Normality in Reverence
by Psychometry
Summary: Honoka struggles with her self-proclaimed curse every day. But after becoming uncharacteristically infatuated with a redhead on their first meeting, her world is flipped upside down. Friends, allies, enemies, all sorts of new things await her in this next chapter of her life. Will she overcome this curse or will it be her most valuable asset now? HonoMaki
1. First steps

**Most chapters will be longer than this. Have fun.**

* * *

Shrieking winds made the air feel frigid, blowing snow in hypnotic patterns, people running along desperate to get as far away from this storm of cold as possible. Ice, slippery streets, cold, wind. This didn't sit well for the ginger who pulled her crimson scarf closer to her mouth, lips ready to freeze off, eyes struggling to stay open against the gale of absolutely freezing air that threatened to knock her over if she let her guard down.

And that was Kousaka Honoka's current struggle. It was her fault, she knew, as she had decided to stay late to help out a friend of her father's in the shopping district. The walk was a long one, but the weather hadn't been a torrential snowstorm when she had left, but now she was realizing her mistake. Red fingertips, red ears, bone-chilling air freezing her throat and cutting through her dark orange parka, making her limbs feel as if frostbite was coming on. At least she had the foresight to bring boots, so she wasn't slipping and falling on these snowy, frozen, god-forsaken sidewalks that wanted so desperately to throw her into a snowbank on either side.

She considered just heading back to university instead of her home, but she realized she left her key to her apartment at her house. Planning wasn't her strong suit, but she also hadn't considered the current dilemma she found herself in, instead planning on walking through only slightly chilly weather on her way home. Yeah, this wasn't going to happen, she realized ten or so minutes into the walk, her legs ready to collapse beneath her, her breaths coming in labored gasps as the cold air threatened to freeze her lungs every time she opened her mouth even slightly. As she considered her options, a passing car, _who the hell would want to drive in this weather?_, pulled up next to her.

_Great, it's probably some creepy guy out on the prowl for women who happen to be walking in this shitty frozen wasteland of a city we call Tokyo, wait that's exactly what I am right now. How did I pick the wrong weekend to decide to spend at home? My apartment at the university wouldn't have gotten me into this mess, I'll say that. Well, all I have to do is tell him to leave me alone and hopefully I can just get on with it._

Honoka reluctantly stopped, trying her best to cover her face as the snowstorm pummels one side of her head, afraid that if she stands still for too long, she'll turn into a snowbank herself.

The door to the car opens and out steps, to the ginger's shock, a redhead beauty with curves of a model, violet eyes that captured Honoka's eyes immediately, soft pink lips undamaged by the horrific weather. This girl couldn't have been older than Honoka, looking like she just stepped off a college campus herself, her red cardigan showing that she hadn't exactly planned on stepping out of her car until she was just feet away from a warm cozy home. She must have said something that Honoka didn't respond to because she was waving a hand in front of Honoka's face to get her attention, snapping Honoka out of her daydream-like state of being transfixed on the beauty.

"Eh? Huh?"

"I said, do you need a ride? A girl shouldn't be walking in this kind of weather. You'll definitely catch a cold or worse."

"Ah, no, I…" Honoka held her hands up as if trying to show that she wasn't cold, but her shivering body gave it away easily enough and the redhead grabbed the sleeve of her parka, pulling her towards the still-running car, the heat emanating from it enough of a temptation for Honoka to not resist, the allure of the girl another reason entirely and much more so than the car. She opened the passenger door and motioned for Honoka to get in.

"I wouldn't be able to sleep tonight if I just passed by a girl freezing to death, so hop in. You probably don't live that far away, right? So, it won't be that big of a deal. I don't want to hear any arguments." Honoka gave no arguments, transfixed by this redhead with curves of a goddess violet-eyed beauty that basically had to shove Honoka into the passenger seat before closing the door and running around to the other side to hop in.

There was an awkward silence at first, the girl clearly waiting for some kind of response from Honoka who just stared at her, still entranced by those violet eyes, the alluring soft red hair, the… She was broken from her thoughts by a glance from the girl, a brief one, but the seeing those violet eyes stare into hers for even just a second was enough shock to bring her back to world of the living where people actually have to voice concerns and opinions if they want others to understand.

But before she could organize her thoughts, the redhead threw a question her way. "Are you alright? Did the cold freeze your tongue?" She stuck out her own tongue for a emphasis and Honoka felt her heart take a leap at the cute gesture, a slight blush coming to her face that she shook away. This wasn't like her at all, so why was she acting like this now?

"Ehe, no, no. Sorry, I just… um… thank you for the ride." Thoughts were flying in every direction and casting out her fishing line, she pulled up her belated thank you. Honoka internally slapped herself for not being able to fish up anything that would actually keep a conversation going, but the redhead beauty that she couldn't take her eyes off of helped her with that.

"Mm. Like I said, leaving you out there would have left me with a guilty conscience. Ah, where do you live? We don't want to drive around in circles for hours in this weather." Honoka gave her directions and the girl just nodded, seemingly pleased that the distance was even shorter than she had initially thought. "I take it you're not the talkative type, huh?"

Honoka tries to say something to that, to refute it, but her jumbled thoughts once again destroy any chance of her coming up with anything coherent. While it was true that Honoka's friend count was a flat one, she wasn't against socializing and, with that one friend, socialized quite a bit as well as with her family. As these thoughts processed, Honoka bit them back, deciding that declaring, "I talk to my one friend plenty," would just put her in a pitiable position that she didn't want to be in with this girl.

"I, uh, just a little cold still, ehe…" Honoka tried to laugh it off but the redhead threw her a genuinely concerned look before cranking the heat up a bit more, an unnecessary action because Honoka felt completely fine temperature-wise. If anything, being so close to the redhead was making her feel warmer, but she couldn't say that.

Before long, with the rest of the conversation being Honoka awkwardly giving directions, Maki pulled up in front of her home, a Japanese sweets shops, Homura, that doubled as the Kousaka household.

"Thank you again for the ride." Honoka managed, finally pulling herself together enough to communicate a coherent thought to the girl who probably saved her.

"Of course. Leaving a cute girl to freeze doesn't sit well with me." Honoka felt her heart leap, an assault on her chest that threatened to make her faint or worse, a sudden pull that made her want to lean into the girl, to stay in the car, to drive away from her home and be somewhere else, anywhere with her longer, but that thought was washed away as the redhead held out a hand. "Hopefully we meet again."

Honoka smiled widely, perhaps the first smile she had shown this girl she thought and took that hand. And everything froze. _This is…_ An involuntary use of her… Images flashed across her mind, Honoka unable to grab just one. Sights, smells, sounds, feelings, everything washed over her, overwhelming her senses, her brain working overtime to just process this rush, a headache threatening to drive her down. And then she found herself no longer holding the warm inviting hand of a redheaded beauty, but standing on her university's campus, next to the Health Sciences building, a newer building than the others with a wide archway that led into a fancy interior, part of which was still being renovated due to some electrical issue. Honoka had experienced this enough times to know what she was looking for, but it never ceased to disorient the her to the point of almost fainting.

As she caught herself and managed to keep her senses intact, a glance around showed nothing of note, most sounds were dulled, the air was cold but not freezing, people walked all around her, heading to class or away, none acknowledging the existence of this girl. A flash of red. The red hair that she somehow already felt familiar with, short wavy red hair, a girl with the curves of a goddess, soft pink lips, piercing violet eyes, walking right by Honoka, not sparing a glance for the girl even when she tried to call out. The redhead who Honoka just realized she hadn't even gotten the name of walked by her and into the Health Sciences building, Honoka following close behind, her senses feeling dull to everything besides this one girl. But even through those senses, she could hear something, a dull scream sounding as if it was underwater, a loud sound and she knew what was happening long before it happened.

As she tried to call this time, information flooded her head, so many details, most of which didn't register in her brain, but plenty got through.

_Nishikino Maki. 20. April 19. AB._

A host of information continued to pass by, but she pushed through, determined to ignore it, watching the redhead as she looked above her, everything moving in slow motion for Honoka, all colours except that beautiful red hair muting, sounds becoming nil, and Honoka forced out the name that had been pushed on her against her will.

"Maki!"

Reaching out, but too late. As a large electrical unit fell, Honoka knowing there was no possible way to reach it in time, tears flying from her eyes, her hand suddenly feeling much colder, a scream that would hurt her throat for the next week, the terrified look in those violet eyes. But before she could witness the end, gone.

"Hey, are you okay?"

Honoka's eyes snapped open, the warmth of the car, the warmth of that hand, the violet eyes no longer filled with fear but concern, car, snow outside, her house. Everything came back all at once and she was no longer witnessing the death of a girl she had just met. Her breathing had picked up and she could feel her heart slamming against her chest, her hand suddenly sweaty and she reluctantly released that hand, almost immediately regretting it but knowing she had to move. She pushed opened the door and hopped out, looking back only for a second, unsure of what her face must look like. Honoka tried her hardest to keep a passive expression, but she knew she must look like a nervous wreck now, must look like… she just witnessed someone dying.

"Thank you for the ride, Nishikino-san." Words spoken into a white mist that blew from her trembling lips, she closed the door and sprinted into her house, slamming that door shut behind her, not looking back at the redhead, too nervous to.

A quick hello to her family and she ran up the stairs, tossing her coat on the floor of her room before hopping on her bed, the house feeling colder than ever despite the heater keeping the other members of her family warm. Honoka felt a cold sweat dripping down her back and struggled to throw her shirt off, deciding that a bath and sleep was needed.

The warm water enveloped her, briefly trivializing every problem she had ever had, a smile flashing across her face before her mind drifted back to the redhead driver, Nishikino Maki. Honoka lifted her hands out of the water, hands that were still shaking, but she took a deep breath to stop that. Thoughts flooded her mind about the… vision, or whatever, she had witnessed, a phenomenon she was all too familiar with, though she rarely had one so vivid, with so many sights, sounds, feelings, that had almost overwhelmed her. Yeah, this was something normal for her, gathering information about something just from touch, unwillingly. And that escalated to visions sometimes, visions of the past, future, either, sometimes of trivial events, sometimes… that.

Honoka let herself sink deeper into the bath, praying that the hot water would soak that power right out of her body, drain it, and leave it where nobody would ever be able to claim it. A futile wish she knew, remembering the first time, when she was just a child, that this had occurred. She shook her head, not wanting to remember the past, just wanting to focus on the present, on a new life where she could try to lead a normal life, her sole wish. To lead a normal life. That was the one thing Kousaka Honoka wanted and the one thing that she could never be granted.

After all, there is no treatment or doctor she can visit about "psychic abilities." She would be laughed at or called crazy and sent off to some mental hospital for schizophrenia or something. And then she'd just be in an even worse position.

Honoka sat up straight, sending water flowing over the edge of the tub. "Get it together, me!" She pinched both of her cheeks. "University life will be fine! You already have a great roommate who accepts you. This semester I'll definitely get out and make more friends! I can't let this hold me back forever! Yeah!" A fist pump and she was feeling a bit better. "But first…" The image of the seconds before NIshikino Maki's death flashed in head again. And the information she needed was already in her head. Tomorrow, 2pm, Health Sciences building, all the positions of everybody who was there at the time. She would need to ditch her Archaeology class, but her professor would understand if she was saving a life, right? Of course, Honoka pushed that idea out of her head, the idea of unveiling her power only to be called a joke and kicked out by the professor wasn't something she would look forward to, and people regularly ditched that class anyways.

Jumping out of the bath and another fist pump later, she was ready to turn in for the night, deciding to wake up early and head over to the university so she could think about her plan.

* * *

"Ahh… I'm home." Honoka lazily called out as she entered her apartment, but with a glance, every light was off meaning her roommate had either yet to return from home or had headed out super early for something, whichever was fine for her, she knew they would see each other that evening. She ran into her room and grabbed her back, checking textbooks and notebooks quickly before setting out, her destination the Health Sciences building.

On arrival… Honoka couldn't really come up with a reason for being there. With her schedule, she would make it in time easily by skipping Archaeology, but what else could she besides pull Maki aside or push her out of the way. The second seemed risky so she was going to opt for the first, not wanting to risk the slightest mistiming. Nodding at her "plan," she left for her morning class, which she mostly slept through, not really caring to take notes with something so heavy weighing on her mind.

"Eli-chan!" Honoka yelled out, spotting her blonde half-Russian roommate from across the way, having forgotten until just a few minutes ago that they both had time off for lunch. Eli was sitting at an outside table, a bento she had prepared herself with an assortment of meat and veggies in front of her, Honoka running up to her and jumping in the seat across from her, ripping open the plastic holding the bread she had just bought from the school store. Spoiling herself with bread would get her mind off the whole situation. But she shook her head, knowing now wasn't the time be thinking like that.

Honoka's emotions must have been showing on her face because Eli called out to her with a worried tone.

"Is something wrong, Honoka? Is it about _that _?" She leaned in and whispered the last part, glancing around to make sure nobody was within earshot. Honoka almost laughed at the way she treated the secret Honoka had shared with her, always acting like somebody was trying to listen in on their conversation. When it came to this secret, Eli was prepared to go to spy levels of stealth to avoid any unwanted eavesdroppers.

"Mm." Honoka slowly chewed her bread before swallowing, savoring the taste and the energy restoration that she would need throughout today. "Do you know a NIshikino Maki?" Eli shook her head. "She drove me back home the other night and I shook hands with her. And now I'm in some deep stuff. If I don't do anything, there's going to be a big accident involving her. I know you don't like me skipping class, Eli-chan, but you might have to make an exception this once." Honoka flashed her an innocent smile and begging puppy eyes to which Eli sighed.

"If you're helping someone, of course I don't mind. Do you need my help?" The genuine concern Eli always showed when Honoka got herself into these situations warmed Honoka's heart. She knew she really couldn't have asked for a better roommate and friend to go through this stuff with.

"No, it's fine. I'll be helping her before the accident happens so there shouldn't be any risk. Thanks though, Eli-chan." Honoka smiled warmly, grateful for the sole friend that she could share these experiences with. Eli just nodded and went back to eating her bento, not seeming the least bit concerned, her trust in Honoka full and unwavering.

After the conversation, Honoka thanked her and ran off, almost slipping and falling into one of the snowbanks that surrounded every path because their university was insane enough not to cancel classes after the horrible snowstorm last night. Well, at least they had taken the time to push the snow off the pathways, and it felt significantly better not being pelted by snow no matter which direction she turned to. Two hours until showtime, Honoka internally psyched herself up.

* * *

Honoka was planted behind the Math building which neighbored the Health Sciences building, bread in her mouth as she waited for her target and, sure enough just as she'd seen, the redhead walked down the same path Honoka had been standing when she'd seen that vision, moving towards the building with a confident walk. Guys looked at her and whispered to each other, Honoka munching on her bread harder, upset that so many people were ogling the redhead that she wanted to be close to, but she threw the bread away, knowing her task was more important than getting upset over something so useless. She took out her phone and, without calling anyone, placed it up to her ear.

"Honoka, engaging target." A few seconds would be enough she figured, if she could just buy a few seconds she could prevent the otherwise inevitable tragedy. And she dashed out, pulling up a white face mask for colds that she had swiped from the Health Center in preparation, pulling on a pair of Sloan's, hoping that would be enough to hide her identity, miraculously managing to not slip and fall face first into the snow. And off she went, a straight line for the stunning redhead, absolutely no plan besides dragging her away… Honoka's mind paused, her feet luckily still moving towards Maki. Earlier, her only "plan" had been physically stopping the girl, but if her identity was revealed while doing that, she would have no chance… Honoka shook her head. Now wasn't the time to think about that.

"Maki!" She got more than a few looks, one of those being the confused look of the redhead as she turned to see who was yelling her name, and that look only got more confused when she saw a ginger haired girl with a face mask and sunglasses running at her. Before she could attempt to flee, Honoka grabbed her arm, holding on tightly, determination and adrenaline surging through her body. "Don't go!" Honoka internally slapped herself for not coming up with something reasonable to say except for that.

"What are you talking about? I don't even know you!" Maki yanked her arm away and fled towards the building, probably hoping to grab the closest on-duty campus security officer to get this strange girl chasing her to leave her alone. Right as Maki took her first step into the arch, Honoka heard the scream from a man, the one she had heard in her vision. She was just inches from her goal, pushing her body to go as fast as it could.

_Just once! God, Buddha, whoever is out there! Just let me reach her, please! If I'm going to live with this curse, then just once, let it reach! Let me save her, at least! I have to have this stupid curse for a reason, right!? So, let this be it! If Nishikino Maki is the reason for my curse, I'll never complain about it again! I'll treasure it and use it protect her! So… don't let it end like this!_

A surge of energy filled her, her body squeezing out everything it had for just one more step that was quick enough, her arm stretched as far as it could go, fingers brushing the light fabric of the redhead's shirt.

_Just… one more step!_

Honoka felt her foot plant solidly on the ground and pushed off, every ounce of strength in her body moving her towards that sole goal: Nishikino Maki, the redhead who had flipped her world for just seconds, the redhead that she knew was the one reason she would suffer through this curse for. Honoka lunged forward, her hand wrapping around the girl's thin arm, tightly, never wanting to let go, just needing to make sure that in this moment, this girl would live. Honoka stopped and pulled back as hard as her body would allow, yanking Maki right off her feet. Honoka fell backwards from the sudden lack of force, Maki landing on top of her and blowing all the air from her lungs, just as the two heard a loud sound, an electric unit crashing down just feet from them inside the building.

A few people screamed in shock, trying to see if anybody had gotten hurt but Honoka, even with the air expelled from her lungs, even with the promised soreness the current pain in her body made her realize, she knew she had done it, reluctantly letting go of Maki's arm, she let her head rest back for just a second, catching her breath and letting a smile form under the face mask.

Nishikino Maki was alive.

After recovering from the fall, Maki stood, ready to go off on this random girl who had, in her eyes, assaulted her, but she turned to see the destroyed unit, the floor where she would have been standing cracked from the impact, and turned to look at the ginger haired girl who was getting back to her feet, briefly looking at Maki before taking off in the other direction.

"Ah! Wait!" Maki tried to give chase, but she had twisted her ankle when the girl pulled her down so there was no chance of her running, much less catching up to the ginger running full speed. "Who…?"

Honoka sprinted as fast as she could, and she was _fast_, but she felt the repercussion of trying to move faster than her body recommended and, as soon as she was nearing the Liberal Arts building, where her skipped class was being held, she fell to her hands and knees, gulping down air, sweats pouring down her face, her heartrate through the roof, but a smile on her face, bigger than ever before.

"I did it!" She yelled, briefly drawing looks from the people around her. She tore the face mask off to make breathing easier. "I… I did it… Maki… is alive…"

"Good work, Honoka." Something cold touched her cheek and she looked up to see Eli standing there, a bottle of water in hand. Before questioning anything, Honoka grabbed the bottle and downed half the contents, finally cooling down and finally able to start catching her breath. "I assume you were successful?"

"That's right…" Honoka spoke up, her smile still there, the feeling of triumphant victory still making her blood rush. "Maki is safe… I'm so glad… But Eli-chan, what are you doing here?"

"Pfft. Like I would just sit and class and hope the best for my best friend when I can be there in person. Looks like I was a little late since I missed the actual event though." She laughed a bit and Honoka internally laughed, too tired to actually perform the action.

Eli offered a hand to her and she gratefully took it, quickly downing the rest of the bottle as she stood.

"So, do you still want to show up to class?' Eli asked, full well knowing the answer, draping one of Honoka's arms around her shoulders so she could support her.

"I think… I just want a bath and a nap."

Eli laughed and the two walked off in the direction of their apartment.

* * *

**Fun stuff. I thought writing a good ol HonoMaki fic would be great, since I think they're too underrated as a couple.**

**Anyways, this doesn't mean I'm gonna start ignoring Musings of the Dead, I'll just be writing two fics at once (because that always turns out well, right?). But I'll try to get on some kind of posting schedule when I can be bothered. Big exam on Thursday and next Tuesday though, so don't expect much else this week in regards to any fic.**

**As always, hope you enjoyed.**

**Till next time. Be seeing you.**


	2. Clearing things up or

**First of all, Merry Christmas! Well, it's Christmas Eve, but close enough. I won't be uploading on Christmas day for obvious reasons, so I won't get to wish you guys a merry Christmas then. So here's a slightly early one! I hope you all have a great Christmas!**

**Now, it's been a while since I've uploaded this fic, but I never said I would be updating it regularly... I don't think I said that anyways. Well, I'll just be uploading chapters as I finish them. I hope you all remember what happened in the first chapter.**

**Enjoy.**

* * *

"Eli-chan~ Motivate me~" Honoka calls out, tossing her notebook away from the sofa she was resting on and looking over to her friend who was the polar opposite, diligently working on her homework. "Eli-chaaaaaaan~'

"Honoka, you've only been studying for ten minutes. How are you going to pass that test if you don't study?"

"Uh… Touch the test?" She was joking, of course. But sometimes she accidentally learned all the answers to a test from touching it, something she had considered taking advantage of but decided against it, and she was glad she did when she had confided her ability to Eli who would nag her to no end if she took the easy way out.

And judging from the look on Eli's face, she caught on that it was a joke but was still upset by the idea. She knew Honoka couldn't help it sometimes and she wouldn't fault her for that, but she would never allow her best friend to use that power for cheating.

"Kidding, kidding." Honoka stared at the ceiling for a bit before turning a slightly blushed face in the half-Russian's direction again. "H-Hey, Eli-chan."

"What is it? I'm not helping with any homework tonight; I have a bunch to get done."

"Do you believe in love at first sight?" Honoka squeaked out and turned over, facing the back of the sofa before she could see her best friend's reaction. But she could guess what it was when she heard the pencil drop to the ground. "I-I'm sorry, that was a weird question. Never mind." She tried to laugh it off, but she heard her friend stand and soon felt an extra weight on the edge of the sofa.

A hand reached out and gently played with the ginger's hair. "She really is still on your mind, huh? What was her name? Maki?" Honoka nodded slightly. "You really think you're in love with her?"

"I… don't know. I've never been in love before. I always avoided people in middle and high school, you know. But… when I think about her, my chest gets tight. I feel like I want to throw up from nervousness when I think about talking to her. I don't know what's happening to me…"

Eli giggled and ran her hand through her friend's hair again. "At the least, that's definitely a crush. Why don't you try speaking with her? If you saw that stuff happening to her, you must have touched her, right? Was it an accident? Or did you speak with her before?"

"I did, but… it wasn't much of a conversation. I just kind of stared at her."

The memory of that night was still embarrassing for her. At the time, she thought it was fine to just stare at the girl as she drove her home. But now she regretted not speaking with her more. Her face felt flushed when she remembered touching Maki's hand, but that quickly faded when the terrible memory of the vision she had seen surfaced. A long sigh escaped her mouth and she turned over to look at Eli.

"What do I do? What if she doesn't remember me? And well… even if she does, she probably just remembers me as 'that girl I gave a ride to.' And… w-won't I have to… you know, tell her about _that_?" Honoka's voice dropped to a whisper, barely audible even to the girl sitting so close. "What if she thinks I'm a freak?"

Eli wrapped her arms around her friend and brought her up and against her chest. "It's okay, Honoka. I know she won't call you a freak. And you don't have to tell her at first. Become friends with her first and think about that later."

"Is… is that really okay?"

"Mm. I'm sure if you do tell her later, she'll understand. You can't be afraid to try, Honoka. No matter what happens, I'll be here for you. So, do whatever you want, okay? You're not alone. If you ever need advice or anything, you can come to me anytime, even if I'm asleep or studying. Don't hesitate to talk to me."

Honoka wrapped her arms around her best friend, gratefully returning that hug. A few tears came out, staining the blonde's shirt but she didn't mind.

"Thank you. I love you, Eli-chan."

"Haha. I love you too, Honoka. And I always will."

* * *

Suffice to say, with the weight of the whole Maki situation on her mind, Honoka had neglected to study for her Archaeology exam in the least. Though, whether through luck or something else, when she picked up the test paper to examine a question more closely, a flood of information invaded her brain. She cringed at the realization that she suddenly knew every answer and a headache was slowly starting to form.

In the end, she filled out enough correct answers to pass and sheepishly handed in her test first before leaving, one hand rubbing her head. She noted to not make jokes about touching her test to Eli next time to avoid this situation again. And she would have to tell her blonde roommate about this as well. A long sigh escaped her mouth as she left the building, deciding that she wanted nothing more than to just get her mind off the subject of her stupid psychic ability for now.

Though things were never that easy for her. How much the thing activated each day was pretty random. But a girl just barely brushing shoulders with her informed her of the girl's entire evening ahead of her. Luckily, unlike it had been with Maki, this girl was in no danger though Honoka felt bad knowing that her boyfriend would break up with her.

The headache was getting worse and Honoka opted to take a walk off campus, heading for the small café that the university's students frequented right nearby. She ordered a large coffee and tucked herself away in a corner booth. The place wasn't that full considering most people had already eaten lunch and those who hadn't were still in class. But that was exactly what she wanted. The last thing she needed was to brush against another person and learn their life story or what the next few hours held for them.

As she took a sip of her black coffee, someone put a hand on her shoulder nearly causing her to choke on the hot liquid. She was grateful her stupid ability stayed quiet because she might have spilled the entire cup if she had been assaulted with information in addition to the scare. But when she turned, it was just Eli. A wave of relief washed over her followed by guilt when she thought about the test she had just taken.

"Hey, Honoka, what's up?" Eli scooted into the other side of the booth with her own coffee.

"Not much. Just got out of my test and thought I could use some coffee…" Honoka trailed off, still rubbing her aching head. Eli quickly caught notice of this and sighed, but reached out a hand, rubbing her best friend's head.

"Did it happen again?"

"…Mm. I swear, I wasn't trying to cheat. But I picked up the test without thinking about it… and then bam, I knew everything. So, I just filled out enough to pass and turned it in." Honoka slumped down, resting her head on the table. "Ah, this sucks. Now I'm going to have to study even more for the next one to bring my grade up…"

Eli giggled and gave her friend one more pat before taking a sip of her coffee. "Come on, cheer up, Honoka. How about I treat you to some cake or something for passing?" The ginger looked up at that, her eyes sparkling.

"Really? Even though it's technically cheating?"

"Well, you didn't mean to. And if you had used the answers you got to get a perfect score, I wouldn't. But since you went out of your way to get an average grade, I'll treat you."

With that, Honoka bounced back in an instant, hopping back to sit up straight and taking a huge gulp of her coffee. Which she then proceeded to almost choke on a second time as she spotted something behind Eli. Eli quickly jumped up and moved over to her, patting her back while she coughed.

"H-Honoka? What happened?"

Unable to speak over her coughs, Honoka just pointed toward the door quickly. Eli's eyes were drawn in that direction to see a redhead who just walked in. She glanced at the small sign that displayed the day's specials before getting in line. Honoka got up and shoved Eli back into her seat before hopping in next to her so that her back was to Maki.

"Why are we hiding?"

"Eh? Uh…" That was a good question. Why _were_ they hiding? It's not Maki would recognize her as the girl who saved her before anyways, so what was she so worried about. Honoka could feel her heart racing though and she was sure that would only get worse if she were to interact with said redhead. "I-I haven't mentally prepared myself for talking to her again…"

"Weren't you the one talking about how she might not even recognize you? Come on, Honoka. And what is there to mentally prepare yourself for? You don't need to tell her you're in love with her just because she says something to you."

"I know, but…" Honoka sighed and let her head rest on her arms. "Last time, I basically just stared at her the entire time. What if I do that again?"

"Come on, you're so talkative when you're around me. Just try to think about a conversation you might have with me. Or just go along with whatever she says. And hell, it's not like she hates you for being quiet before, so I don't think you even need to worry about her impression of you. Here." Eli reached in her pocket and pulled out a couple bills, shoving them into Honoka's hands. "Go buy something sweet for us. And talk to her while you're in line."

"Eh? Eh? B-But I…!"

"No buts!" Eli quickly shooed her ginger friend out of the booth and Honoka, with no other choice, begrudgingly walked over to stand in line behind the redhead. She glanced back at her roommate who just gave her a thumbs up before disappearing into the booth again.

Honoka swallowed a lump that had formed in throat. She was close, too close probably, to the redhead. She awkwardly took a step back and tried to think of something to say. She could always just thank her for the ride, but what after that? If the conversation died out there, what would she say? Eli had said it was fine to just go along with what Maki says but… that's easier said than done. Honoka took a second to reflect on her lack of social skills when it came to literally anyone except Eli and sighed. Those social skills were nonexistent.

After all, she had been pretty isolated since telling anybody about her ability in the past had gotten her ostracized. Eventually she just began to separate herself to avoid bullying. If Eli hadn't approached her back when she had, Honoka would still be friendless. But Eli had held a hand out to her, accepting her and believing her about her ability and all the trouble it had caused her. A small smile crept its way onto her lips as she thought of all the good times she had since she met Eli.

_Eli really did save me… I don't say it often enough, but thank you, Eli-chan._

As she came out of her thoughts, she noticed that Maki was already ordering. She fidgeted nervously and glanced back toward her blonde friend who was signaling that it was alright. Honoka sighed but as Maki received her coffee, she turned around and her eyes locked onto Honoka's, freezing her in place.

"Ah, hey, you're that girl from before, um… I don't think I caught your name before." Maki flashed a kind smile and Honoka felt her heartrate skyrocketing. A girl cleared her throat behind her and Honoka just stepped out of line instead of ordering. She could hear Eli stifle a laugh, but she was too fixated on the redhead in front of her. But she realized she was doing the exact thing she wanted to avoid, staring at her without saying anything.

"Ah, I um…" She suddenly felt much more nervous. Eli was the only friend… or potential friend she had introduced herself to in years. How was she even supposed to do it? Should she try to make it smooth or try to impress the redhead? No, that's stupid, she figured. "I-I'm um… Kousaka Honoka…" She surprised even herself that she was able to get her name out. "N-Nice to see you again… Nishikino-san…"

"Mm. Nice to see you again, Kousaka-san. I was going to ask about that. We didn't get to exchange names or anything before, so I was wondering how you knew mine? Am I famous around campus or something?" She asked jokingly, but there was genuine curiosity.

_Oh… shit…_ It dawned on Honoka that they had, in fact, not told each other their names. She only knew Maki's name because they had touched, and she accidentally used her ability to find it out. What was she supposed to say in this kind of situation? Lucky guess? A cold sweat started down her back. "I-I um… I've seen you… around campus before. And I-I just… heard somebody call you one time…" Honoka internally slapped herself for not being able to speak as clearly as she meant to. She was a nervous wreck on the inside. This was the first time in so long she was communicating with somebody outside of her family other than Eli and it was definitely showing.

Maki didn't seem to notice how nervous she was, or she just didn't show it. Because she just kept smiling and accepted that explanation before casually continuing.

"I see. Are you here alone?"

"Ah, actually…" Honoka glanced back towards Eli who was fervently signaling that she wasn't there and that made the ginger giggle a bit. "Oh, I mean." She turned back to the redhead. "Yeah, I'm alone. I just needed to relax after a test." She gained some confidence knowing that Eli was supporting her from behind. "Ah, um, just Honoka is fine… if you're okay with that. All my friends just use that so… ehe…" Well, it was true. Eli, her only friend, did call her Honoka. She almost regretted blurting out the thought that she wanted to be called her first name by the redhead, but Maki just nodded.

"That's fine. Then Maki is fine for me. I don't mind."

_I'm glad to be alive!_ Honoka almost felt like she could die happy just from hearing the redhead call her by her first name. It almost didn't register that she gave her permission to call her by Maki as well, which just added to the bliss she was feeling.

"I-I'm glad, Maki-chan!" She blurted out without thinking, but again Maki just nodded with that smile that was making Honoka feel like fainting. "Ah, um, w-what about you?"

"Hm?"

"Are you here alone?"

"Ah, yeah. I just came to get some coffee before I start studying. I'm in pre-med, so… well, it's a lot of work to say the least. Piles of homework and studying. But I have to deal with it. Ah, um… weren't you in line, by the way? Did you want to get some coffee?"

"Oh uh… n-no, I was feeling a bit hungry, but I think I'm alright now, ahaha." Maki gave her a curious look at that but shrugged it off. Given Honoka's already strange way of acting, that wasn't the most unusual thing.

"Well, I _was_ planning on studying, but how about we sit down then? Unless you need to get to class soon?" Honoka blurted out a quick 'no!' before Maki led them to an unoccupied booth on the opposite side of the place where she had left Eli and her coffee.

Maki started talking about how she spent most of her time studying so it was nice to be able to just sit down and have a conversation. Even though Honoka remained silent through almost the entire joking complaint, she nodded along as if to say she was still listening at least. Maki took a sip of her coffee before meeting eyes with the ginger.

"So, what do you do here, Honoka? You know, your major."

"Ah, Anthropology. Not as spectacular as pre-med, but it's interesting…" Honoka trailed off, thinking about how she had just picked the major because there was nothing she was really interested in. Her parents had tried to push her towards some business degree, but that was the last thing she wanted to go into besides math. Though if she had to lean towards like or dislike, she would say that she liked Anthropology. "You must be really smart, Maki-chan."

Maki just shrugged and took another sip of her coffee. "Not really. Anybody could do it if they put their mind to it. Besides, I'm basically being forced by my parents to do it, so it's not like it's my passion or anything like some of the other students. What about you? Why Anthropology? I can imagine it's interesting, but job prospects in that field… are far and few between from what I've heard."

It was Honoka's turn to shrug. "I, um… there's not much I'm interested in. But my parents were pretty insistent on me going to university. So… I just kind of picked something." Honoka praised herself for not stumbling much. She was having a normal conversation with Maki! That was more than she expected she would be capable of. At least, it was more than she had said on their ride home. It's progress.

"Well, there's nothing exactly wrong with that, I guess. If you find something you're passionate about, you might want to consider switching though." Honoka nodded. She had thought about that for a bit, but she was pretty convinced that she wasn't going to find anything so she would be stuck in anth.

Honoka was glad she was able to just have a conversation with the redhead. After the stress of everything that had happened before surrounding the girl, this was like a breath of fresh air. But all good things had to come to an end and Honoka found that out the hard way when she felt the redhead's hand touch hers. Maki was calling out to her, she must have spaced out or something so the girl was just trying to get her attention. But Honoka felt herself being pulled far away before she could even attempt to stop it.

Bits of information trickled into her mind, showing her the girl's family, friends, her classes, effectively making the possibly of becoming a grade A stalker not so unrealistic. In the midst of the information, she caught a scene of Maki playing the piano, fingers dancing across the keys, a wide smile on the girl's face, a smile that could send Honoka into a coma if she wasn't careful. But the next image shattered her heart. Maki with her head down at the piano, tears flowing from her cheeks to the keys, the heart wrenching sobs threatening to overwhelm the poor ginger who could only look on. She tried to reach out, but she knew that this was the past, something that had already occurred, something that she had no control over. And then she was back.

Honoka let out a breath she had been holding in, her eyes drifting to the worried eyes of Maki who had called her name several times without a response. The ginger blinked twice before finally yanking her hand away, much faster than she meant to. The hurt look on Maki's face made her chest tighten but she couldn't find it in her to say anything. The emotions from the scene began to overwhelm her as well as the knowledge that she had just hurt the one girl she would do anything to avoid hurting.

Tears fell down her cheeks, dripping onto the table below and she could see Maki's eyes widening. Maki called out to her, probably in concern but Honoka couldn't hear what she said. Instead she just stood up and wiped at her eyes which proved futile as the tears kept coming. She tried to say something, anything, but words failed her, everything failed her, her brain was turned off. The more she tried to speak, the more panicked she felt, her breathing picking up.

_Fuck. Fuck. She probably thinks I'm a weirdo now, that I'm gross. What the hell is wrong with me? Why did I pull away? Why can't I speak? Why can't I do anything right? Goddamit!_

Honoka finally managed to squeak out an, "I'm sorry…" before bolting from the café. Maki stood up, unsure if she should race after the crying ginger or not. But she paused when a tall blonde girl stood up from a booth shouting, "Honoka!" before running out after the ginger. Maki just sank back into her seat and looked at her hand with concern clear as day on her face.

* * *

Honoka hadn't bothered to run the entire way back to their apartment, Eli instead found her on the side of a small building meant to house maintenance equipment, her legs pulled against her chest, her body shaking with sobs. Eli sat next to her and wordlessly rubbed the girls back, figuring physical comfort was probably what the ginger needed at that moment, it always seemed to work after all.

A few minutes of silence went by before the sobs slowly calmed, Honoka finally speaking up without lifting her head, her voice quiet, weak almost. "I'm an idiot. I fucked up."

"You didn't." Eli didn't fully believe that herself and she was sure Honoka knew that. "Just because you cried in front of her doesn't mean she's going to hate you. She looked worried when I saw her. I'm sure if you explain…" The blonde trailed off, the obvious reasons for not saying that surfacing in her mind.

"If I could explain, I would… maybe." Honoka looked up, her eyes red from all the crying, though no more tears came out. Eli figured that was only because she had already cried all of them out. "After this, I can't imagine she's eager to speak with me again. Telling her about my stuff now… will probably just be the tipping point. What if she tells other people? Even if they don't believe her, they'll make fun of me just for the hell of it. That's how it's always been…"

"Do you really believe she would do that?"

"… No…" Honoka admitted, letting her chin rest on her knees. "But I just…"

Eli reached around and grabbed one of Honoka's hands, gently running her fingers over it, a comforting sensation for the ginger. Neither said anything as Eli waited for the girl to fully calm down, for the entire experience to become something of the past, tossed onto a pile of memories that they would likely discuss again in the future in the event that Honoka began to feel depressed again.

"I think you should tell her." Honoka turned her gaze to her friend but she was too exhausted from crying and worrying to show any real emotion. "I think Maki really likes you. If I hadn't run after you, I think she might have. Maybe I should have let her." Honoka was shaking her head by the time she finished that sentence.

"I probably wouldn't have had the courage to tell her." She gripped the hand holding hers tightly, too tightly but Eli didn't mind. "I'm glad Eli-chan ran after me. I'm sorry for making you do this. Thank you, Eli-chan."

"It's my pleasure."

Both of them shared a laugh at that. Eli let her friend rest for a bit more before finally standing and holding out her hand which the ginger gratefully took and stood, wiping away the remnants of tears still on her cheeks.

"How about we head back for a while? I'm sure some rest will make you feel better. We'll make some popcorn tonight and watch a movie, just the two of us. Does that sound good?"

Honoka immediately brightened up, large smile spreading across her face.

"Mm!"

* * *

**Poor Honoka. Nothing seems to go her way. At least she has Eli by her side.**

**On a random side note, I have the same birthday as Eli so that's pretty cool.**

**Hope you guys enjoyed.**

**Till next time. Be seeing you.**


	3. Dilemmas

**Another chapter of this so quickly? Yeah, I felt inspiration to write and, well, what better time to write than at 2am?**

**Anyways, enjoy.**

* * *

Ayase Eli had a dilemma. In the midst of her already busy college life, with studying, a social life, one that Honoka refused to be a part of and one that Honoka was the only member of, and helping out with a drama club that she wasn't even a part of, she was still trying to think of some kind of plan to help her best friend out with her newfound love interest. To say the least, Eli felt swamped with work. Time to herself had become something of the past but for some reason she didn't mind, in fact, she almost liked being very busy, being relied on by people. So, she thought, maybe this wasn't a dilemma. But maybe it was.

Eli pondered this while moving around some boxes in the theatre. First on her agenda was what to do for her best friend. It was obvious that the easiest solution would be for Honoka to just tell the redhead about her ability, but she knew that wasn't exactly an easy option for the ginger, and she could understand why considering how her best friend had been treated in the past because of telling people. But what else could she do? Even if Maki decided to just forget about what had happened, what would Honoka do if it happened again?

One of the reasons Honoka decided to avoid people was because she was afraid of touching them and her ability activating. Most people would find it creepy if somebody suddenly knew everything about you, all the important events in your life, even all your secrets possibly. For some reason, that thought had never bothered Eli when it came to Honoka. It almost felt like a relief that she had such a close friend, someone who knew absolutely everything about her, someone she could confide anything in because of that. The two were a perfect pair of best friends.

Eli shook her head. She should be trying to think of a way for Honoka to, at the least, get along with Maki. But no matter what she thought of, the only realistic option seemed to be pitching her ability at the girl and hoping that Maki accepted it and accepted Honoka. Eli cringed at the thought of her best friend being rejected by this girl, it would probably bring with it a whole knew slew of trauma and the last thing she wanted was for Honoka to suffer more. That's why she was taking this slowly, thinking through every option. Before that whole fiasco the other day, she thought it might be fine for Honoka to just try being friends with her without telling about the whole psychic ability thing. But if they were going to be close to each other there would be no way for her ginger friend to hide that. They would inevitably touch, and her ability would inevitably activate, leaving her in a position of either lying to the redhead or running away. And Eli knew Honoka would take the latter option any day.

"That's the last of them, Eli. Thanks for helping as usual."

Eli's flood of thoughts came to an abrupt end as the voice of her raven-haired friend reached out to her and she snapped her head up to look Nico in the eyes, the girl giving her a strange look.

"A-Ah, no problem, Nico. I never mind helping out, haha." Eli tried to shrug off the fact that she had been contemplating her friend's problems, but it must have been spelled out on her face that something was wrong because Nico, in her ever unending persistence when it came to the problems of her friends, pushed the issue.

"Is something wrong, Eli? You've been spaced out ever since we started moving this stuff. You can talk to Nico, you know." Nico's voice went from curious to caring in one second and it made Eli sigh. This wasn't exactly something she could discuss with just anyone because, well, how would she tell somebody about Honoka? Mentioning her best friend's ability was out of the question. And that made discussing the matter a whole lot more difficult. But she couldn't lie to Nico, so she opted for a general summary.

"My friend is going through some stuff… I'm trying to help them through it, but it looks like it's going to be really hard. She has, um… special circumstances." Eli finished sheepishly, rubbing the back of her neck, hoping that her twintailed friend wouldn't try to pry those 'special circumstances' out of her.

"Hm. Nico sees. Well, if they ever need cheering up, just introduce them to the great Nico-ni, there's not a soul in the world that Nico can't cheer up." Nico puffed her small chest out in pride and Eli giggled at that. If anybody on this campus could break Honoka out of her shell besides Eli and Maki, it would definitely be Nico. With her unparalled passion that she put into everything she did, she could make the stages of grief flip upside down.

"Maybe I'll do just that, once she's ready." Eli replied with a warm smile, glad that her friend was showing her usual compassion. That alone made her feel better about her situation. Nico nodded, seeming satisfied with that.

"Anyways, Nico's going to go grab a late dinner with a friend. You want to come? It'll probably just be pizza or something cheap though."

Eli shook her head. "I'll pass this time. I should really go check on Honoka. Ah, that's the friend I was talking about. She's probably just alone in our apartment so I'm gonna go spend some time with her."

"Mm. Good choice. Tell your friend that the great Nico-ni said hi, Nico's sure that alone will be enough for her to perk up." Nico turned away laughing, but Eli knew that she was genuinely worried about Honoka even if they didn't know each other. Nico was just a good person like that. Maybe she _would_ be a good choice for Honoka's second friend.

As much as Eli would like to go with Nico and her friend to hang out, she decided to resolve potential dilemmas first. And her largest potential dilemma was Honoka becoming depressed from her previous interaction with Maki, something the blonde was still considering how to fix. Then again, besides just being there, there probably wasn't much she could do at the moment. Encouraging her was one thing, but Honoka actually deciding to take action was something else entirely. Eli let out a sigh and just hoped that she could convince her ginger friend to talk to Nico, this was something that might be a little too hard for her to deal with on her own.

Putting those thoughts away for a few hours into the future, she realized she was already outside of their apartment before she4 realized it and she opened the door, first noticing all the lights were off. Was Honoka out? No, it was already past 21:00. Despite that, Honoka probably hadn't had anything to eat since she tended to wait for Eli to come back before eating, a habit the blonde had tried to break her out of to no avail.

"Honoka?" Eli called out into the darkness as she slipped her shoes off and made her way past the entryway into their living room. Sure enough, a Honoka ball was curled up under a blanket on the couch, shifting slightly when her name was called. Eli moved over to the ball and poked it, eliciting something between a laugh and a snort from the person underneath. "If you're going to take a nap, Honoka, you should really do it on your bed. It's not good for your back to sleep on the couch."

The Honoka ball shifted again and this time, the ginger's head popped out form under, looking up at her friend with a smile that lightened the blonde's heart. "Welcome back, Eli-chan~ That tickled."

Eli laughed before replying. "I'm back. Anyways, have you eaten dinner yet? I'm guessing if you're taking a nap at this time, you haven't." Eli had figured out that Honoka's preferred move when she was hungry but wanted to wait to eat for one reason or another was to sleep.

"Mm, I haven't. I just did some homework when I got back then went straight to sleep. Did you bring something?"

"Nope. I was thinking we could go grab something quick though. Maybe some fast food place that's open late?" Honoka nodded at that and stood up with a silent yawn while stretching. "I'll go get changed real quick and then we can head out."

Honoka grabbed her phone and key before heading towards the door while waiting for her friend. Her eyes glanced over the phone again and a sudden pain struck her chest as she realized that she might have been able to explain herself in some manner or another if she had the wherewithal to get Maki's number when they had spoken. But would that have been weird? When was it okay to ask for somebody's number? Honoka let it go, quickly realizing that her lack of social experience in years was going to work against her, it would be a lot easier to stow it away as question to ask Eli later.

"Ah, that hits the spot! I forgot how hungry I was!" Honoka spoke in between mouthfuls of burger or French fries as she gobbled her meal down with abandon, Eli giggling at the sight as she took much more moderate bites from her own burger.

"You know, I told you that you can get food before I come back. I'm always gonna be out late when I'm helping the drama club." Honoka just waved it off as she spoke.

"It's fine, it's fine. It tastes better when I eat with Eli-chan anyways." The radiant smile she had could have blown Eli from her seat if they weren't in a booth. She placed a hand on her chest in mock pain and rubbed at her eyes.

"My little Honoka is too cute…" Honoka burst out laughing at that and she couldn't help but follow suit, the two livening up the otherwise dreary fast food joint, a couple of older customers looking over at them and laughing a bit to themselves.

Eli considered her earlier thought as she watched her friend tear through her meal at light speed. The chances of Honoka agreeing to meet with Nico were realistically… zero, but if she could convince her that it might end up helping her in her Maki situation, then maybe, just maybe, she would agree. It's not like she would have to tell Nico about her ability anyways, and Eli knew for a fact that, no matter how strangely Honoka acted in front of her, Nico would never treat her any differently. In fact, even if Nico did find out about her ability, Eli knew it would be fine. But, without mentioning her name, when Eli had suggested meeting a friend of hers in the past, Honoka was against it.

A small smile crept onto the blonde's face as she watched her best friend happily eating. She wanted to protect that smile, to show that smile to everybody else, to show everybody how amazing Honoka really was. But… as things stood, there was no chance of that happening, they would have to take everything one step at a time and the next step was either resolving her Maki issue or making a Nico issue. The Nico one would undoubtedly be easier, but Honoka would most likely deny it with everything she had which would just land them back at square one.

Well, nothing would happen if she didn't at least give it a try.

"Hey, Honoka." Eli started, absently picking at her fries while glancing to her friend nervously. She hoped that Honoka couldn't pick up on how nervous she was about asking that, but the ginger didn't seem to notice anything strange as she looked up with her mouth still full of burger. "I was thinking, I know you were against the idea a while back, but… there's somebody I want you to meet." Everything seemed to fall silent, not that there was much noise going on in the place besides them given how late it was, except for Honoka swallowing her food which sounded awkwardly loud to both of them. "I-I mean! I really think it might help with the whole Maki situation if you get better at talking to people besides me, you know! Ah, not that I don't want to talk with you or anything! But! Look, she's a really nice girl and it's not like you'll have to tell her about your... _ability_… or anything!" She lowered her voice to an almost inaudible whisper for that one word. "She's the nicest person I know and I'm sure you two would get along well!"

An uncomfortable silence followed as Honoka stared at her friend in awe, her mouth hanging open, she was lucky that she had already swallowed her food. Eli reached for a fry, noting how sweaty her palms had gotten during her rant. Finally, the ginger reached for her drink and took a sip from it, her eyes never leaving her best friend who suddenly felt like a weight had fallen on her. Silence was probably the worst thing… well, besides Honoka running away, but the ginger had never run from her since they had been friends, so she hadn't even considered that as a possibility. Eli's thoughts were interrupted by her friend finally speaking.

"… Won't she think I'm weird?" Honoka's voice was quiet, even. Eli really couldn't tell if she was worried, panicked, or what. "I… act weird around people besides you."

"She won't mind! Trust me! Nico would be the last person to care about that!"

"… What if I touch her? What if I learn everything about her? She would be mad, right? Especially… if I didn't tell her that it could happen… She would hate me, right? She would yell at me, call me weird, call me a freak, call…!" Honoka started speaking faster but stopped when Eli quickly stood and took the step around the table to kneel on the booth next to her best friend, wrapping the ginger in a hug.

"It's okay, Honoka. Nico won't do anything like that. I swear." She slowly ran her fingers through the ginger's hair and smiled. "I know you're worried. And you don't have to meet her if you don't want to. But I think, if anybody, she would be a good person to start with. I guarantee the two of you will good friends."

Another silence ensued that made Eli's palms sweat, the fear of her friend getting angry at her for pushing the issue very real in her mind. There had been a few times when Honoka had shouted at her over suggestions, but the ginger had always broken down and apologized afterwards, the fear that Eli would leave her making her overreact. Of course, Eli had never left her and never would, so she found those worries to be completely unfounded. Once again she was snapped out of her thoughts, this time by her friend's arms wrapping around her, tightly returning the hug. A muffled voice spoke up from her chest.

"Okay. If Eli-chan really wants me to… Then I'll try."

* * *

All considered, it went better than Eli would have thought. Honoka returned to her usual self in no time, happily finishing off the meal while Eli just picked at hers, staring at her friend in wonder of how she had recovered from the situation so quickly. She had expected Honoka to be borderline depressed the rest of the night because of her suggestion, but the girl seemed content, happy even.

"Um… Honoka?"

"Hm? What's up, Eli-chan?" Honoka asked, pausing with a handful of fries only an inch away from being devoured. Eli gave her condolences to the fries that would soon meet their wet death trap.

"It's um… It's not that I'm not glad that you're happy… But you're uh, how to say it? A lot less nervous than I expected? Before, you were so against it, so I'm just wondering… what happened?"

Honoka shoved the fries into her mouth and Eli could hear their screams in her heart. The ginger really seemed to consider the question as if she herself didn't know what had changed but after a minute or so of slow chewing and deliberation, she nodded.

"Ever since I met Maki, I've been thinking… 'If I could talk to people normally, we could have been friends.' I don't know what she thinks of me right now… But I don't think 'friend' would be the first thing to come to her mind. After all, she's probably just weirded out by me… or just worried. Either way, neither one makes me happy. It's been so long since I've tried to make friends that I… thought I didn't need them, I guess. But Maki is… I don't know. I don't know if it's love or whatever. But, at least… I want to try and be friends with her. Plus, I trust you, Eli-chan. If you say this Nico girl won't…" Honoka swallowed and cleared her throat. "… won't think I'm a freak… then I'm willing to go for it. For some reason, I'm not as nervous as I thought I would be. I think I'm just… relieved?"

Relief was the perfect word to describe what Eli felt when she heard that. She relaxed back in her seat and let out a sigh, letting out all her worry that was for nothing. Sometimes she really did worry about Honoka too much, it wasn't that Honoka was unable to do anything on her own but Eli tended to act like that and she knew it.

"I'm glad."

* * *

Eli gave the ginger a day to think about it just in case but when Honoka said she wouldn't change her mind, they decided to meet up after class. Luckily the drama club wasn't meeting that day and Eli had no prior obligations, so it was perfect. She met up with Honoka outside her last class and the two walked together to the small café that students tended to frequent.

When they walked inside, Nico waved at them… well, at Eli.

"Eh? Where's your friend, Eli?"

"Wha?" Eli glanced around before looking directly behind her, Honoka pressing herself to the girl's back, a strained look on her face as if she wanted to come out but couldn't bring her body to move. "Honoka? Are you okay? If you're having second thoughts, we can…"

"No… I'm just thinking… What am I supposed to say in an introduction again? My name? Just my name? My birthday? That would be weird on the first meeting, right? My age? My major? Ahhh, I don't know what I'm supposed to say, Eli-chan! I already gave a super awkward introduction to Maki!"

Eli giggled at that, relieved that her best friend didn't want to back out at the last second. "Just your name is fine. I'm sure some other topics will come up, but just try to be natural, alright? Like I said, even if you act a little strange, Nico won't get freaked out or anything."

Honoka just nodded before stepping out from behind her blonde friend. Eli walked over and greeted her friend, taking a seat at the table, noticeably not taking the seat in front of Nico which she gestured to for Honoka to sit in. The ginger tentatively took a few steps forward before taking a deep breath, releasing it, and sitting down in the chair. Her eyes slowly traveled up to meet Nico's ruby orbs. Nico wore a kind smile, something she expected from Eli's description of the girl, but it was more than that. It was caring, careful almost.

Nico waited for a bit to see if the ginger was going to say anything but when she didn't, Nico cleared her throat and started.

"I'm Yazawa Nico. Eli and I met in an introductory biology course our first year and we've been hanging out ever since." Honoka glanced over to Eli who nodded.

"I-I'm uh… Kousaka Honoka… I met Eli-chan before university… and she's been my best friend ever since…" Honoka glanced around as if searching for something else to say.

"The pleasure is Nico's, Honoka." Nico cut straight to using her first name, the open and friendly air about her wafting over the ginger. She held out her hand but Honoka flinched, her chair scooting back half an inch and Nico quickly withdrew the hand. "Ah, sorry, sorry. Eli mentioned that you don't like physical contact much. Well, what do you do here, Honoka?"

After the flinch, Honoka felt the confidence draining from her, replaced with the worry that Nico already thought she was a freak. Why was she finding it even harder to talk to her than Maki? Why was she so worried already about what the girl thought about her? Honoka shook her head and steeled herself before scooting her seat back in pace, mumbling an apology that nobody quite caught.

"I'm an Anthropology student. It's nothing special… What about you, Yazawa-san?"

"Just Nico is fine. And I'm getting a theatre degree. Nico plans on being an actress when she graduates after all." Nico puffed her chest out in pride and Honoka smiled a bit at that. Nico seemed to catch that and continued. "Don't worry, now that we're friends, you'll get a free ticket to my early showings with Eli." Honoka giggled at that, unable to help herself, but when she noticed she immediately settled down, a light blush dusting her cheeks. Eli and Nico shared a smile at the event.

The conversation continued smoothly, Eli joining in to make sure that Honoka wouldn't have to feel awkward for being silent in a two-way conversation. Honoka surprised herself that she was able to keep up the conversation for a solid thirty minutes, her confidence skyrocketing throughout the conversation, partly due to the fact that Nico never questioned her silence and would immediately and smoothly jump topics if she thought the ginger was becoming uncomfortable.

After the conversation finally began to die down, well it died down on Honoka's part who wasn't used to speaking that much with somebody she barely knew, Eli decided that was enough for the day.

Nico held out her hand. "Your cellphone. Nico will put her number in. If you ever need anything don't hesitate to rely on the great Nico-ni." Honoka giggled and, without considering it beforehand, reached out with her phone. To the side, Honoka thought she saw Eli trying to reach out to stop her but didn't have time to think about what that meant. She was too distracted by the relief and excitement she felt as a result of how smoothly the meeting had gone.

But she realized what her best friend was trying to do when Nico grabbed her phone, the girl's fingers just barely brushing Honoka's. But that was enough and, of course, her ability chose then to act up, her consciousness being tugged away.

Images, sights, sounds, everything filled her mind, pulling her away from the café and into a life that wasn't her own. Nico, in an apartment, three children laughing and the twintailed girl smiling as she sat down with them. The next, Nico crying as she read over a piece of paper in front of her, a rejection letter from a university, Honoka knew. Another rejection letter, but this one from an acting agency. More tears, more pain, more… Honoka didn't have time to consider these events, information flooding her mind at lightning speed.

_Yazawa Nico. 22. July 22nd. A._

The names of family members, images of her last talk with her family, the exact words of a phone conversation she had with her mother the night before. Nico had failed a test the two days ago, but she otherwise had good grades. Nico studying, late at night, then studying a script for a play for the drama club. Memories of hanging out with Eli, the two sharing laughs, the two sharing secrets, secrets that were now implanted in Honoka's brain.

After countless visions, countless memories, too much information, Honoka finally snapped out of it. No time had passed she knew as she yanked away her hand and phone from the twintailed girl, her breathing picking up, panic kicking in as she realized what had just happened. Just like the time with Maki, she felt the emotions from the visions filling her, something that had never happened prior to her meeting with the redhead, happiness, relief, anger, ending on sadness, tears falling from her eyes.

"I-I…" She managed to get out as she tried to wipe the tears away. "I-I'm sorry… N-Nico-chan, I… I didn't mean to see… I swear… I didn't want to… I-It's not my business, I… I'm sorry…" Honoka turned and sprinted out the café, Eli ready to run after her but she paused when Nico sprinted past her, the shorter girl much faster than her.

Honoka managed to make it back on campus before Nico finally caught up to her, grabbing her arm and yanking her to a stop.

"Honoka! What are you doing?"

"L-Let go! I-I didn't' mean to, I swear! I didn't want to look… I…" Honoka slowly stopped pulling and fell to her knees, her breathing labored, the tears finally stopping as the feelings from the vision slowly left her but now she was only filled with regret and worry.

_That's it. I did it again. Now Nico thinks I'm a freak to. Even if she doesn't, what do I tell her? If I tell her I know everything about her, will she hate me? Will she hit me? Will she run away?_

"Honoka…" Genuine worry filled Nico's sweet voice and Honoka flinched when she spoke, realizing that she couldn't just sit there and say nothing, but she had no idea how to even begin. The thought of talking about her ability and having Nico reject her made words catch in her throat.

"Honoka! Nico!" Eli caught up then, out of breath, and looked between the two. She ran up to Honoka and kneeled down, wrapping her in a hug. "It's alright, Honoka, you didn't mean to. It's alright." Honoka just gave a slight nod to acknowledge her best friend who then glanced back at Nico before looking back to the ginger and whispering. "What do you want to do? She really won't question it if you don't want to talk about it. I'm sure of it."

Words were still getting caught in her throat, but Honoka managed to squeak out, "Apartment," feeling like an absolute idiot for not being able to say anything else. Eli nodded and turned to Nico, starting to explain that she was going to take Honoka back but the ginger grabbed her sleeve. Both of the girls looked at her in surprise and she managed to look up into Nico's eyes.

"You… should come too, Nico-chan."

Nico's eyes widened but she quickly fixed her posture and nodded without saying anything. Eli, who was even more shocked at the words from her best friend than Nico, had to collect herself for a few moments before nodding and helping her best friend up. The three walked in complete silence to the apartment and nobody spoke until the three of them sat at the small table in their room. Honoka was staring into her lap, an internal debate on how to start the conversation ravaging through her.

Nico seemed to understand how serious the situation was as she didn't push the girl to say anything, just occasionally glanced to Eli who put a hand on Honoka's shoulder to encourage her. Honoka jumped a bit at the touch but relaxed when she realized it was Eli and finally took a deep breath, nodding to herself, looking up at ruby orbs once again, steeling herself. This would be the first time she told somebody about her ability after she told Eli and it felt terrible as opposed to relieving to have the opportunity.

"I… um… I-I have… this thing." Honoka spoke slowly, trying to think about how exactly to phrase it. "I don't really know how to say it… i-it's… like… a psychic ability or something." Honoka unconsciously rubbed her arm nervously, sure that Nico thought she sounded a complete idiot trying to explain her ability. "W-When I touch people… sometimes, I um, see things. About the person. A lot of things."

"So… you know a lot about Nico?" Nico asked skeptically, tilting her head in clear confusion.

Honoka took a deep breath, prepared for Nico to call her gross after this but she wasn't exactly sure what else to say. "Yazawa Nico. Your birthday is July 22nd. Your blood type is A. You have a single mother. Three siblings, Cocoro, Cocoa, Cotaro. You were rejected once from university before coming here. Last night, you talked with your mother on the phone about…" She paused, glancing up to gauge the reaction on Nico's face. Nico just stared blankly at her, her mouth hanging open a bit, but she didn't interrupt her so Honoka continued. "… financial troubles. You got the main part in the play that you're going to put on. You review the script vocally on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays, and Saturdays, but read over it every other day. You sleep with two stuffed bears, you changed your bedsheets from a light pink set to a magenta set this morning at 6:58. You…" Honoka finally stopped. She had been speeding up without thinking about it, the words just flowing out, but she finally stopped, shaking her head before staring down at her lap. "I uh… I'm sorry."

The air felt like it was suffocating her in that moment, it was so heavy. Honoka was too afraid to look up at the girl, the thought that she had lost her only other friend now firmly planted in her mind. Eli's hand never left her shoulder and she tried to focus on it to calm down, glad that her ability didn't want to peek into Eli's day.

"Hm." Honoka snapped out of her thoughts and tensed as she waited for the verdict. "So, you really are psychic, huh? Nico never really believed in that stuff, but Nico guesses things like these do happen." Honoka's head snapped up, her eyes meeting a curious look from Nico, that felt at least better than the disgusted or angry one she was expecting. "So, you know a lot about Nico now because you touched her?"

"Ah, um… yeah…"

"How much do you know?"

"A lot… probably more than most people… and um… I probably know a lot of stuff you don't want people to know." Honoka shifted uncomfortably. "I-It's not my fault, I swear… I can't control it. And I can't control what I know. It just happens…"

Nico considered this for a bit, but eventually just shrugged, much to the surprise of the other two girls.

"Well, in that case, Nico guesses you'll have to tell her a lot about yourself, right?"

"Eh?" Honoka's eyes widened, sure that she had heard incorrectly, she had definitely heard incorrectly, right? "W-What…?"

"Well, friends share secrets, right? It wasn't Nico's choice to share them, but Nico doesn't mind. So, you'll have to repay the favour by telling Nico an equal amount of secrets, right?" A kind smile spread on Nico's face and she laughed lightly. "Unless you don't want to be friends with the great Nico-ni anymore because you know my secrets."

Honoka practically jumped across the table, making Nico jump as the ginger grabbed both of her hands, the look on her face a mix of desperation, worry, shock, happiness, all sorts of emotions.

"Y-You don't… think I'm weird? You don't think I'm a freak?"

Nico's smile returned and she laughed again. "Of course not. Everybody has something special about them. Nico-ni's special thing is her amazing singing and performing skills. And yours just happens that be that psychic ability of yours. It's nothing to be ashamed of or anything, though I can see how living with it might be hard. Either way, you don't have to worry about it around Nico."

"Nico…" Eli smiled and sighed in relief.

"Nico-chan…" This time Honoka really did jump the rest of the way over the small table, tacking the girl to the ground and hugging her. Nico almost started to push her off, but she felt Honoka shaking. "I-I'm… so glad… thank you, Nico-chan. Thank you."

Nico just ran a hand down the girl's hair. "You're quite welcome, Honoka." She said with a laugh.

Eli laughed as she watched the exchange, Honoka spewing out thanks and deciding that was the perfect time to start spilling her secrets to the twintailed girl who was trying to get her to slow down. Honoka seemed all too anxious to even out the score or maybe to just confide in somebody besides Eli for once. Eli relaxed and just enjoyed watching the two. That was one more friend for her best friend. It had been a little rough, but that didn't matter anymore.

_Well, that's one dilemma down. Now for Maki…_

* * *

**It warms my heart to see Honoka opening up to somebody else.**

**Till next time. Be seeing you.**


	4. Surprise

**Thanks for waiting for this chapter guys and dealing with my shitty upload schedule.**

**This is a bit of a slow chapter, I think, but it has a lot in it.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

Honoka let a yawn loose as she walked out of her last class, glad to be done for the day. It had been a few days since the fiasco surrounding Nico, but she had spoken to the twintailed girl every day since which made her happier than ever. It was almost enough for her to push the whole Maki dilemma to the side… _almost_. That definitely still lingered in the back of her head every day, especially considering she hadn't seen the redhead since running away from her… Well, in reality Honoka could easily find the girl considering her ability had spelled out the girl's entire daily schedule but the ginger was way too nervous to even think about ambushing her outside of one of her classes.

"Honoka!" The ginger turned to see her new friend waving at her as she exited the building across the way from her. She was glad that one of Nico's electives happened to be near her and they both got out at around the same time usually. She hurried over to Nico with a big smile on her face.

"Nico-chan! Heading back?"

"Yeah. Nico has practice for the play, but that won't be for another couple hours, so she was thinking about getting something light to eat and then reviewing her script. What about you, Honoka?" The two began walking as they talked, in the direction of the apartment complex.

"I don't know. I usually wait for Eli-chan to get done with all of her stuff before I get dinner. So, I guess I'll just head back and look over my notes or something."

"In that case, why don't you…" Nico reached out and nudged the ginger who immediately stopped walking, tensing up. Nico paused for a second and then realization dawned on her face. "A-Ah, sorry, Honoka! That's Nico's bad! Nico just kind of reached out without thinking."

Honoka stared off into space for a few seconds without responding before her shoulder finally relaxed and she slowly turned to face Nico. Honoka swallowed a lump in her throat and slowly reached out. This time it was Nico who was surprised, and she almost took a step back before quickly deciding that would make this situation a lot worse.

"I um…" Honoka finally started as her hand paused just an inch from Nico's shoulder. "You don't mind, right? I, you know…" She looked down and to the side, biting her lip and hurrying the next words out before she could change her mind. "I might learn more stuff… you don't want people to know."

Nico internally slapped herself for not thinking about the reason why Honoka would flinch from near touches. It wasn't that the ginger just didn't want to be touched, it was that she was afraid of the possible retaliation from the person she touched. Even after their conversation from before, she was still afraid to openly touch Nico and that didn't sit well with then twintailed girl.

"Honoka." Nico put her hands on her hips and used her best strict voice but gave it up after the name and sighed. "Nico told you, you don't have to worry. She's not going to be upset if you uh… find stuff out. So, don't worry about touching her. It won't bother her, really. If you're uncomfortable with it, you don't have to, but physical contact is kind of… unavoidable you know."

Honoka still seemed hesitant but she continued reaching out, closing her eyes before quickly closing the distance and finally touching the shorter girl's shoulder. Nico just stared in curiosity as Honoka opened her eyes, but a faraway look came over them as she stared at Nico but didn't see her. It made her feel uncomfortable, but not because the ginger was finding out who knows what about her, but because she was worried about Honoka. From what she had been told, it's not like the ginger wanted to use that ability. In fact, she hated it. And here Nico was, basically making her use it. It's not like it was for the sake of curiosity or anything though, she genuinely believed that it would help the ginger if she could get used to touching Nico. In the future, it's not like she would be able to avoid touching anybody. Better sooner than later that she starts warming up to the idea. And Nico didn't know anything about psychic abilities, but if Honoka kept touching people, maybe she could learn to control it. Or that's what Nico hoped, at least. The pause wasn't long, thirty seconds at most, Nico thought, before the ginger blinked and removed her hand, placing it on her head instead and groaning.

"H-Honoka?"

Honoka took a step back, fear flashing across her eyes. But then she stopped as if recognizing it was Nico. "Ah… I-I'm okay, Nico-chan. I told you, right? Sometimes it gives me headaches…" Honoka flipped her bag around and reached into one of the pockets, producing a pill bottle. She took out two small tablets and threw them into her mouth, swallowing without any water, something that made Nico gag just from watching. Honoka noticed and looked down awkwardly as she shoved the bottle back into her bag. "Sorry. I talked about it with Eli-chan and she said it was okay once a day. It's just headache medicine."

Nico shook her head. "Nico wasn't questioning taking medicine for your headache, she was more worried about you taking them without any water. Nico could never do that." She fished a, what Honoka would consider fancy, sports water bottle from her bag and handed it over to the ginger who accepted it and took a sip if just to ease her friend's mind. It seemed to work because the twintailed girl nodded as she took her bottle back. "Nico was going to ask if you wanted to come grab a snack with her or something. You have time since you're waiting for Eli, right?"

Honoka thought about it for a second but nodded. "Sure! It would be pretty boring to go back and study." They both paused as an obvious growl sounded from the ginger's stomach who promptly put a hand to her stomach with her face flushed. "P-Plus I'm kinda hungry, haha…" Nico stared at her for a second, thinking she sounded kind of strange and wondered what exactly she had seen.

A nod of approval from Nico later and they were on their way to some café, but not the usual one. Instead of that usual one Honoka found herself in some hole in the wall kind of small shop with no more than six small tables and only one other customer. The lighting in the place was dim at best, not exactly the ideal place for doing schoolwork out of a textbook she figured. Nico walked in as if she had been there dozens of times and immediately walked up to some rather shady looking older guy who greeted her surprisingly enthusiastically before taking her order. Honoka found it weird that she ordered at the front before they sat down but when he handed her a laminated piece of paper with a number on it before Nico motioned for the ginger to place her own order.

"Um… one coffee please… and one of those." She pointed at one of the cakes on display, hoping that it wouldn't spoil her appetite for later so she could avoid the wrath of her roommate.

"Right away, Ojou-chan! Have a seat wherever you like!"

Nico led her to a table in one of the corners and Honona glanced around the place. "This place is definitely… something." Despite the somewhat strange atmosphere she had felt when she walked in, the old man's voice had enough shock factor to blow her assumptions away. "I like it." Honoka said, a small smile coming over her.

"Mm. Nico thought you would. It's less crowded than the places students like to go to. And you can just order right up front. Nico likes that." Nico paused as the old man came over and dropped the ginger's coffee and cake off and a water for Nico. "So, um…" Nico flicked at her straw before looking up at the ginger. "How much did you find out about Nico?"

Honoka almost choked on her coffee before looking away, silently bringing the mug back up to her lips and taking another sip. Nico waited a bit but when Honoka still gave no answer, she pushed. "Honoka. Nico won't be mad, alright? She just wants to know." Nico carefully observed the skittish, nervous wreck that Honoka would begin to look like when questioned about her ability, she definitely looked like she would rather run out of that café than talk about it.

She watched as the ginger fidgeted and ate a few small pieces of the slice of cake in front of her, trying to buy time, any amount of time, likely hoping in vain that Nico would forget that she had even asked a question. But things were never that convenient, especially for this ginger. And, as much as she would rather not, she knew she had to speak. Honoka's eyes darted back and forth between outside and Nico for a bit until she finally opened her mouth to speak.

"Is… Is your family's financial situation really bad?" Honoka would have rather started with a lighter topic, but it just kind of slipped out. And though it was a question, Nico figured that she already knew so it was more like a statement. She flicked the straw in a circle around her glass before sighing.

"Mm. Nico's family… has always been in a pretty hard spot. And Nico going to college is hardly helping. That's why she works part-time, to try to offset some of the costs. Nico needs to hurry up and graduate so she can make big money for her family."

Honoka smiled at that and relaxed a little. Digging into somebody's personal life was… definitely on her list of things she never wanted to do but she was more than willing to listen to somebody talk about it. If Nico wanted to tell her something, it felt a million times better than finding out by touching her. In fact, any information she found out from the source's mouth instead of her ability made her happy. It cleared her heart of nasty feelings, hazy clouded gunk that only got in the way of her having relationships.

"I see…" Honoka mumbled before sifting through the other things she had seen, at this point it felt like just filing papers away. She was thinking of another potentially lighter subject before she dug into the one thing she was hoping to avoid. Her cheeks flushed a bit as she spoke this time. "I-I um… saw the girl you like… in your memories. Sonoda-san, right?"

Nico practically slammed her face into the table in embarrassment. Then she looked up, more flushed than ever, as the man from the front awkwardly placed her food in front of her, Honoka silently giggling at her attempt to recollect herself. Nico opted to shove food into her mouth instead of responding which was fine until Honoka finished her cake and had nothing to do to distract herself anymore.

"She's cute." Honoka offered.

"Agh… She's just Nico's kouhai. It's not like Nico…" Nico looked up from her food at the ginger who had a soft smile on, a soft but _knowing_ smile which just elicited another sigh from the twintailed girl as she realized that any attempt at covering up her feelings in front of this ginger was useless. "Yeah, yeah, Nico likes her. She's responsible, always making sure everybody is okay before a performance, always making sure that things are going to run smoothly. If you didn't ask her age, you would probably think she was in her last year or something. Diligent, smart, beautiful…" Nico lowered her face to the table again. "How is Nico supposed to _not_ fall for that!?"

Honoka laughed and reached across the table, her hand twitching back as it neared Nico's head, the ginger freezing in place for a second before shakily letting that hand fall on her head. Anything she was going to say to encourage her friend had been lost with her nerves, so she just gave the girl a couple pats before drawing her hand back. Nico looked up in surprise but just smiled when she saw Honoka sipping at her coffee awkwardly.

Nico half expected them to eat the rest of the meal in silence, but she was surprised when it was Honoka who broke the silence by clearing her throat.

"Um…" Honoka leaned forward a bit and dropped her voice even though the only person who could even potentially hear them was the man at the front who was paying them no mind other than glancing occasionally to see if the girls needed refills. "It may not be my place to say this, Nico-chan…" Nico gulped down the food in her mouth, suddenly nervous, expecting some big event in her future or something to be revealed. "But you should really use the bathroom before going on stage."

The silence that followed was interrupted only by Nico's fork falling from her hand onto her plate, the twintailed girl stunned, staring ahead at a Honoka who was clearly holding in laughter. It took a minute for the memory to click. Once, just once, when she was a child, she had forgotten to use the restroom before going on stage for her school's play. That mixed with the nerves she was feeling for performing in front of her mother for the first time… well, one could just guess where that went. But nobody except her and the teacher who helped her knew! It had happened just as she was walking up luckily, so she hadn't destroyed her career before it started by providing material for a "Super Idol Nico-nii's Most Embarrassing Moments Compilation" that would eventually end up on the web somewhere.

She snapped out of her thoughts when Honoka finally burst into laughter, but she knew the laughter was just over her telling Nico about it, not the actual event itself. Even so that didn't stop Nico from stuttering out her response with a flushed face.

"T-That was in third grade, Honoka! Nico was a child!" Any actual anger she had quickly faded from hearing such a genuine laugh from the ginger and she felt a smile creeping onto her face as well, which she quickly covered up with a hand as she turned her head.

"S-Sorry, Nico-chan." Honoka wiped some tears away from laughing so much and took a deep breath. "But you told me to tell you everything, right?" She threw a wink at the idol-to-be.

Nico snorted. "You're definitely starting to grasp some weird concepts."

Honoka looked down at her empty plate and smiled. "You know… um… in the future, uh." She was trying to find a way to phrase her thoughts but ended up twiddling her fingers while stuttering. A look towards Nico showed that she was patiently waiting with a smile. Honoka cleared her throat before looking away. "It's not like… I _actually_ know everything… or anything like that. I say it that way but… it's just a lot. My thing just tells me a lot. But there are lots of things… I don't know. So um, what I mean is… I'd like to get to know stuff about you… like normal friends, Nico-chan."

Squirming in her seat, Honoka managed another look her friend's way and Nico had that same smile from the day Honoka had touched her. "Come on, Honoka. Nico already knows that. That stuff will come naturally with the more time we spend together. So, don't worry about that."

After a bit more conversation about what exactly Honoka had seen, Nico seemed satisfied and just shrugged all of it off. Instead, she finally brought up the subject she was really interested in.

"So, Maki, huh?" Honoka's face immediately flushed and she looked away. "Come on, being in love is nothing to be embarrassed over. Besides, you already know about Nico's crush. So talk to Nico about yours."

Honoka squirmed awkwardly in her seat. "I… don't know if it's love." She sighed and let her head rest on her hand. "But I screwed up anyways. I already know too much about her… before actually _getting to know her_, you know? This stupid ability screwed everything up." She felt tears welling in her eyes but wiped them away with her sleeve. "Either way, I don't think Maki would want to speak to me again. At this point… she probably just thinks I'm a freak."

Nico slammed her hand on the table, making the ginger jump and the man at the front look over. She sent him an apologetic gesture before turning an upset look to the ginger.

"You have to stop saying that, Honoka. If you assume people think you're a freak, then you'll actually make them think it. Just because you ran away from her doesn't mean anything. Besides, if she would decide you're not worth it just after that, Nico wouldn't approve of her anyways." Nico crossed her arms and puffed her cheeks out in a fake pout.

Honoka found herself giggling and her tears were replaced with a gentle smile. "Mm. Thank you, Nico-chan." She let out a sigh and with it, she tried to let out all those uneasy feelings. "I just don't know what to do. I already know… more than I should about Maki. Couple that with running away from her and… I don't know what to say to her. Telling her about my… thing…" Honoka swallowed and it felt cold going down her throat. "To be honest… it's terrifying."

"You can't let a fear of rejection keep you from having relationships, Honoka." Nico reached across the table and grabbed the ginger's hand, a gentle smile gracing her face. "Eli didn't reject you and neither did Nico. It's fine to be afraid of things, but we can overcome them. After you told Nico about yourself, she was surprised you came to meet her in the first place. But you did. You overcame that fear and met Nico and now you and her are great friends."

Honoka looked at her hand and then away. "B-But… that was only because I had Eli-chan with me… I… I can't do things on my own…" Tears prickled at her eyes again, but she took a deep breath and held them back. "I… I'm not strong. I can't… I can't do anything by myself…" Honoka could feel a tear leak out but it was caught by Nico's finger brushing against her cheek. She hesitantly looked up to meet the girl's eyes.

"It's okay, Honoka. You don't have to do this alone. Nico and Eli will be with you every step of the way. And Nico doesn't think you're weak. She thinks you're really strong actually. If Nico had been through even half what you have been, she would have collapsed by now… It's hard to be alone. Nico knows that. But you're not alone. Nico thinks it's fine to rely on Eli and Nico. So, just think about it, okay? Nico doesn't want to rush you into anything, but she knows that you'll keep thinking about it if you don't get this whole situation sorted."

Honoka nodded. Nico was right. Of course she was. Maki hadn't left the girl's mind for a second save maybe when she was running away from Nico. But the redhead was always there, in the back of her mind, tugging at her. But Honoka knew she was too much of a coward to face her again and the longer she waited, the harder it became. The longer she waited, the more she thought the redhead would either just forget about her or have more time to consider what a strange person the ginger was. That definitely wasn't the kind of impression she wanted to leave on her but it was too late.

Honoka grabbed her drink to take a sip and nearly spit the drink in Nico's face.

"W-What's wrong, Honoka?"

"T-That's…! W-What…?" She shakily pointed out the window, her mind trying to work in overtime to understand what was going on. But she wasn't quite sure what to make of the situation in front of her. The street wasn't very busy but even it was she would be able to spot the two. The distinctive blonde hair of her roommate and the luscious red hair of the girl she was… well, the girl she kept thinking about. Together.

Eli and Maki were walking down the street, Eli waving her hands dramatically like she was telling some kind of story and the redhead laughing. Honoka felt her chest tighten. What was going on? Why was Eli with Maki? And what were they doing? Honoka's throat felt dry and she tried to help it with some of her drink, but it wasn't helping at all. Why was Eli even out in the first place!? She should have been helping out with her club. Nothing felt right. Something was definitely wrong.

"Honoka, Nico's sure it's not what it looks like."

What it looked like? What _did_ it look like? Honoka knew the word that kept trying to push its way into her mind, that cursed word that was something she had yet to experience but she was too afraid to voice it. Or she thought she was. Honoka reached across the table and grabbed Nico's hand.

"A-Aren't they… on a _date_, Nico-chan!?"

"Honoka, calm down. Do you really think Eli would go on a date with a girl she knows you're crushing on?"

The ginger flushed at that but shook her head slightly. There was no way Eli would do that. Hey, wait, who said she was crushing on Maki? She internally snorted at herself. There was no real reason to deny it at that point, she had already pretty much accepted it even if she wasn't 100% sure it was love. But the way her chest felt tighter when she saw Maki with her best friend, she thought, just maybe, that was a jealousy that accompanied love that she always heard about in dramas.

Nico sighed. "If you're that worried about it, let's follow them." Nico whipped out a pair of sunglasses from seemingly nowhere and put them on, nodding. Then she pulled out another pair and handed them over to the ginger who just looked at her in confusion.

"Nico-chan, why do you carry two pairs of sunglasses with you?"

"You never know when you'll get famous and might need a disguise to get around." Nico said with a shrug as if it was obvious. Honoka wasn't so sure about that but she threw them on anyways and the girls threw some money on the table before rushing out the café.

Tailing the two was easy enough, it's not like they were running away. They were just walking down the street and talking. It was too risky to get close enough to actually hear what they were talking about, but every time Maki laughed at a comment Eli made, Honoka felt a pain in her chest. Nico kept giving her sympathetic looks, but the ginger was too absorbed in her own thoughts to notice.

It seemed they were walking back from wherever they had been because they finally said their goodbyes and separated at the university. Maki headed off in the direction of the student parking lot while Eli turned around and immediately locked eyes with Honoka who was half-hiding behind a sign with Nico where they were peeking out from.

"N-Nico-chan, I think we need better disguises next time." Honoka muttered as Eli started walking towards them.

"It was all Nico had on her, alright!?"

Honoka sheepishly removed the sunglasses and avoided eye contact with the blonde when she finally got to them. She looked between the two, but she didn't look upset. Quite the opposite in fact. She had a big smile and looked like she was holding in a laugh.

"What the heck are you two doing? It was super obvious you were following us."

Nico looked towards Honoka who didn't look like she was going to tell the blonde, so she spoke up instead. "Isn't it obvious, Eli? Our little Honoka is so jealous." Honoka turned an embarrassed and panicked look towards the twintailed girl. "Come on, Honoka, at least be frank with Eli. You can tell her anything, you already know that. You don't need Nico to tell you."

Honoka seemed reluctant but she nodded and looked towards her best friend. It was obvious that Eli already knew what she wanted to ask but the blonde waited for her to speak. "Um…" Why was she feeling so awkward about even asking what they were doing together? Because it was none of her business? "W-Why…?" She averted her eyes again. "Were you… um… on a… y-you know… with Maki?"

"A… what?" Eli looked genuinely confused and Honoka tightened her hands into fists at her sides, trying to just force the words out. That was no time to be nervous.

"W-Were you a date with Maki!?" She blurted.

The silence that followed made her face flush with embarrassment and that only intensified when Eli burst out laughing. Nico smiled at that as if she had know the truth the whole time. Honoka was too flustered to even speak but Eli calmed quickly when she saw the state of her best friend and took a few deep breaths.

"S-Sorry, I just… I _really_ didn't expect that to be the question you asked me." Eli reached out and placed a hand on Honoka's shoulder, giving her a reassuring squeeze. "I was just doing you a big favour. Though I was gonna keep it secret until we got food later, it's not a big deal to tell you a little earlier." A devious smirk crested her lips and a sinking feeling formed in Honoka's stomach, she knew this wasn't going anywhere good already. "You've never been to a party right, Honoka?"

"… When I was a kid, a couple times…" That feeling was growing too strong and, if Eli said what she thought the blonde was going to say next, Honoka thought she might throw up.

"Well, luckily for you, we're throwing one Saturday night!"

Honoka's mouth twitched, but not into a smile nor a frown. The look was strange, caught somewhere between fear and confusion. Mostly confusion. She looked towards Nico and the girl shrugged and shook her head to say that she had no idea about this either. She looked back towards Eli who was just smiling confidently, then the girl's words really registered.

"W-Wait… throwing?" Eli nodded. "As in… w-we… we're… the hosts!?"

"Mm. That's right. It's going to be in our apartment. It's spacious enough for ten or eleven people. And we can move some of the furniture to make more room too."

"Wait! Wait! W-What do you mean? Why!? Why does it have to be at our place?"

Eli shrugged. "They're friends of mine. We're just kind of celebrating a hard exam being over, but that's just an excuse to party I guess."

Honoka could feel her blood running cold. Just the idea of being around so many people was enough to make her feel nauseous. In class it was easy to avoid touching people, but in close proximity like their apartment… she would end up finding out everything about everybody by the end of the night. Not to mention the looks she already knew she would get from… well, just the way she acted. She wasn't exactly the most sociable person. And god, the thought of the headaches.

"I-I don't… I can't…" Tears started welling up in her eyes.

Eli stepped closer and wrapped the girl in a tight hug. She ran her hands through Honoka's hair and smiled. "Maki's going to be there, you know."

That…

"W-What?"

Eli gently pushed her out to arm's length. "I'm sorry, Honoka, but I knew there was no way you would talk to her unless I could get you two in the same room. Maki helped out one of her friends in the drama club recently which is how I met her. I didn't want to tell you until I was sure that I could get you two in the same room. So…" Eli's smile was replaced by a nervous expression and she avoided eye contact with the ginger. "I'm sorry. But I think it'll be good for you! If you can talk with Maki, then maybe you can really think about your feelings. And you can patch things up with her if anything really needs patching."

The thought of Maki did bring her some comfort, but it also brought an entirely new set of nerves that would be even harder to get over. Maki definitely thought she was a freak. Or if it wasn't that extreme, she at least thought that Honoka was weird. What kind of girl randomly starts crying just after touching your hand and runs away? Just the thought of their meeting made Honoka's face flush with embarrassment.

"You know, Maki asked me about you." Honoka's eyes immediately snapped up to meet Eli's, prompting her to continue. "I guess when I ran out to get you, she saw me. She asked if you were okay." Honoka's look said, 'and?' "I told her that you were. And I told her that we're roommates. And I thought it would be a good opportunity to have you two meet again. Although I wasn't sure where the part was going to be, I decided then that it should be at our place."

There was too much for Honoka to think about. Was she even ready to meet Maki again? Probably not. But Eli was just doing what she thought was best for her. And when had the blonde ever been wrong about that? Just like with Nico, she was probably right about this too. But… Honoka cringed at the thought of screwing up again. And then there were the things she had seen, the things she had learned when she touched Maki. It was so hard to speak with somebody you know things about without them knowing you know them. She couldn't just forget them. And when she saw the redhead, she knew those memories would come back.

"I… I don't know… how to face her." Honoka stared at the ground, trying hard not to let any tears come out. "I learned some things that I know… she would be angry at me for knowing. What am I supposed to do? I can't… it's too hard to pretend like I don't anything." As hard as she tried, she felt a tear fall down her cheek. Her voice came out again, but as little more than a strained whisper. "I don't want Maki to hate me…"

Eli was surprised when Nico responded before she could, giving a light tap on Honoka's head from behind. The ginger turned to face her, trying to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"If you thought Maki would hate you for something like that, then why would you even like her in the first place?" Nico sighed. "It's like I said, Honoka. You can't continue thinking that people are going to think that you're a freak. You learned so much about Nico just on our first meeting, but Nico never once thought you were a freak. Once you learn to be open with somebody, it's like, Nico doesn't know, like we gravitate towards you. It's so easy to talk to you, to not have to feel like Nico needs to hide anything." She looked past her to Eli and winked. "Not that Nico feels that way around Eli either."

The blonde just laughed and nodded. "She's right, Honoka. Again, I'm not saying you have to tell Maki about your thing. But… If you really want to pursue a relationship with her, whether that's romantic or just platonic, you should consider it. I really don't think Maki would be angry or freaked out or anything. Maybe if it was someone else, but because it's you…" She paused when Honoka turned a confused look on her.

"Because it's me…?"

Eli shrugged. "Like I said, she seemed pretty interested in you when we were talking. She really wants to talk to you again. She's worried that she did something to make you run away from her."

Something sunk to the bottom of Honoka's stomach and sat there like a brick. She had made Maki that worried? Now she just felt even worse. But when she weighted her options, it made her feel sick. If she didn't talk to Maki, the redhead would feel bad but if she did talk to her and told her about her ability, the redhead might reject her and then that would be the end of any semblance of friendship they could ever have. It was too much to think about.

Both of the other girls noticed Honoka's shoulders start shaking and they both moved forward to embrace their friend, whispering assurances.

"I'm sorry, Honoka. If you don't want to come to this party, you don't have to. I'll just tell Maki that you weren't feeling well."

"You can stay with Nico while it's happening if you want. She doesn't mind."

_Ah… This is…_

Despite her tears and fears, Honoka felt a smile creeping its way onto her face. Years of being completely alone had eventually led to her finding Eli. And she still believed that Eli saved her. Eli had led her to Nico. Two girls who thought of her as northing more than an ordinary girl, a normal friend. Two girls who weren't disgusted by the very mention of her ability, by the knowledge that Honoka could find out anything about them with just a touch. When she thought about it, her heart swelled with joy, a happiness that she was sure she never would have experienced if the blonde hadn't reached out to her back then, if Nico hadn't run after her out of that café.

Why was she always afraid? She had two amazing people at her side that she could never replace, that she would never give up for the world. These two that made having her ability seem worth it if it led her to them. Her thoughts drifted back to saving Maki. Hadn't she promised something back then? Hadn't she promised that she would use her ability for Maki's sake, that would deal with it if she was able to save that girl? Despite all the misery, all the hardships her ability had brought her, it had also brought her the happiest moment of her life.

Both Eli and Nico perked up at the sound of giggling, both looking at the other to see if it was them. Then their eyes drifted to the ginger between them who started laughing, tears still spilling down her cheeks. A couple passersby gave her stranger looks but didn't stop. Honoka laughed into the cold air, opening her eyes finally to stare at the blue sky above.

What was wrong with her? She was surrounded by two amazing people, but she still had the nerve to act like a nervous wreck all the time.

"H-Honoka?" Eli asked with more than a bit of concern.

Honoka pulled away from the two but only to turn around so she could wrap them both in a hug. "I… I love you both… so much. Thank you for dealing with this coward." Nico and Eli gave each other a look before they both smiled and embraced their friend once again.

"Oh, come on, you're the strongest girl Nico knows."

"Mm. I've always looked up to your strength, Honoka. The strength to go on no matter what happens. Even when you have it so hard, you're able to keep walking. I couldn't be prouder of you."

Honoka giggled and the tears that continued to stream from her eyes felt so warm in the cold air.

"Thank you… you two."

* * *

"So, what do you want to do then, Honoka?"

After that, Honoka and Eli decided to grab some fast food to go and brought it back to their apartment, Nico accompanying them.

Honoka shrugged while she swallowed a mouthful of fries. "I… I'll go." Both of the girls smiled widely. "If…" Those smiles twitched slightly. Honoka smirked and looked Nico's way. "If Nico-chan invites that Sonoda girl~"

Nico almost choked on the tea she was drinking and really had to force it down. "W-What!? W-Why does Nico have to invite Umi!?"

"Isn't Nico-chan the one telling me to be more confident~?" Honoka was clearly teasing her and judging from the pink tint on Nico's cheeks, it was working.

"N-Nico doesn't…"

"Why not, Nico?" Eli asked with a big smile of her own.

"E-Eli!?"

"I mean, you're always looking at her, right?"

"You really help out around the drama club too much if you're noticing things like that…"

"I just happen to have too many friends in it." She winked at Nico. "But really, what's the harm? You can just invite her as a friend. And who knows? Maybe this party will be the chance you need to get closer to her."

Nico thought about it for a second before finally conceding with a nod. "Fine, Nico will invite Umi. Geez." Honoka and Eli giggled at her embarrassment, but that settled the issue.

"Then I'll definitely go!" Honoka said, pumping her fist in the air.

""Yeah!""

* * *

Honoka buried her face in Eli's chest, tears streaming, breathing constantly hitching, heartrate skyrocketing. Her entire body was shaking, and each bout of sobbing wasn't helping. Eli gently ran her hand through the ginger's hair, whispering quietly to her.

"Shh, it'll be okay, Honoka. It's all alright. I know it's a big step for you. Shh."

Eli's voice was probably the only thing that prevented Honoka's panic attack from escalating into something much worse. Even so, Honoka still felt terrible. Her mouth was dry, tears wouldn't stop, a cold chill constantly ran down her spine. Having a panic attack in the middle of the night because of the anticipation of something wasn't the most unusual event for her. And it wasn't unusual for Eli to be there when she was woken up by the sounds of her best friend sobbing uncontrollably.

Honoka felt like somebody had dropped a huge weight on her back. It felt like everything was finally sinking in and it was do or die. Maki rejecting her was at the forefront of her mind and various scenes kept playing before her eyes, all with the girl rejecting her in some horrible way. What would she do if that happened? For all the bravery the ginger had showed earlier, she was hardly prepared to confront the redhead. She took some solace in the fact that Maki was worried about her, but that was only because she didn't know the truth about the situation. She would either have to lie to the redhead, which was the last thing she wanted to do since she had already done so before, or be completely honest about her ability.

Really, lying seemed like the easier option. She would feel terrible about it like she already did, but at least she could tell her something that wouldn't result in the redhead possibly hating her forever.

Honoka took a deep breath and tried to focus on Eli's hand running through her hair. It was warm, comforting, a sign that she wasn't alone. She didn't have to be alone ever again. Eli was there for her and that should be enough. Tomorrow she would see both Eli and Nico. What else could she ask for?

_Maki._

She shook her head. Wanting Maki was just being selfish. But Eli had always told her it was okay to be selfish. That if she wanted something, she just needed to go after it. But the thought was so terrifying to her that she felt her heartrate rising again. She felt nauseous from all the crying. Would she even be able to talk to Maki when she saw her? How had she screwed up this badly when their second meeting had gone so well up until the touch? Why did her ability have to pick that moment to show her Maki's memories? And why did those memories have to be so personal?

"It's okay, Honoka. It's all going to be okay. She won't hate you, I promise."

Honoka wanted to believe those words, she really did. But her mind could only bring up negative possibilities. With the rest of the energy that she could muster, she pushed those thoughts as far back into her mind as she could and tightened her arms around her best friend, snuggling as closely as possible, letting the warmth of Eli envelop her, calm her. All she could do was nod slightly and barely croak out her next words.

"Thank you, Eli-chan."

* * *

**Ah, emotional Honoka breaks my heart. Anyways, I hope you guys enjoyed. I don't know why it took me so long to write this chapter. I think I was debating pushing the confrontation with Maki back a bit. Either way, there will still be one more chapter between this and the party. At least one.**

**Till next time. Be seeing you.**


	5. Fallen angel

**Sorry this took so long to get out and it's also a bit short of a chapter. I just haven't had the motivation to really write lately. In addition to that, I've avoided dipping into Bandori fanficiton, but while watching S3, I got a little bit of inspiration so I've be doing some dabbling around a fic. We'll see where that goes though.**

**Anyways, enjoy!**

* * *

Honoka sighed, staring up at the ceiling, debating on getting out of bed to crawl her way to class. She had spent the previous night crying her eyes out next to Eli and she didn't need to go look in the mirror to know her eyes were red and puffy. She would have to cover that up and she hated wearing makeup. But what choice did she have? Well, it wasn't like she associated with anybody enough for them to actually ask her if she was okay, but she, at least, didn't want to worry Nico or, god forbid, Maki, if she saw the redhead by some chance that day.

As she pulled herself up, she hoped that she didn't jinx herself. There was already a twisting feeling in her stomach knowing she was going to see the redhead soon. She wasn't sure what she would do if she had to see her before then as well.

"Ugh… Why can't this stupid power just tell me the right way to deal with this instead of some stupid test answers?" She grumbled to herself as she pulled on the first outfit from her drawer. Getting through classes without getting distracted by her dilemma would be… difficult to say the least. Her mind was already filled with enough worry.

Despite all of her worries and her great desire to not go to class that day, she managed to shamble to campus and get through her morning classes with little problem. Well, she thought of it that way but that meant that she hadn't paid the slightest lick of attention in any of them and just daydreamed about how she was going to talk to Maki. There were way too many options and most of them, in her mind, ended with the girl thinking she was weird and never speaking to her again.

As if the day could get any worse, Nico was doing something with the drama club during lunch and Eli would be helping her so Honoka would be alone for her meal. As she exited her last morning class, she debated on where she should go. Going back to her apartment would take too long and she wasn't even sure they had anything to eat there. She could go to the café again, but she was getting a little tired of the food from there. Well, fast food it is then.

Honoka began idling her way out of the liberal arts building when she noticed someone standing in front of the fountain in the centre of the courtyard. Normally, a person standing there wouldn't catch the ginger's attention, but this girl was… a character, for sure. She was dressed in a short black skirt with the same-coloured frills around the bottom, a black shirt with some name in another language on it, and black boots. As if to top off whatever look she was going for, she had two fake black angel wings on her back and had her hands in a sideways peace sign over one eye. And… she was staring directly at Honoka.

Honoka swallowed, hoping that she was just looking at somebody else, for god's sake please, but no, of course not, she thought as the girl waved her over. She had half a mind to just make a run for it, but because of all the stress she was feeling about Maki, she thought maybe this would be a welcome distraction. And… for some reason she couldn't quite place, she didn't feel nervous. Normally the prospect of talking to a stranger was enough to make her nauseous, but she felt like it would be fine. Maybe her talks with Eli and Nico really were working, she thought as she neared the strange girl.

Now that she was closer, she noticed the girl was actually really pretty. Pale, porcelain skin that looked like it had never seen the sun, dark silky hair that fell below her shoulders, and piercing violet eyes, all accompanying a confident smile that widened when Honoka stopped a meter from her.

"Um…"

"Ku ku ku. So, you've come, my little demon."

"Eh? Little demon?"

The girl nodded and laughed. "Be honoured, little demon, for the great fallen angel Yohane has descended upon you this day. We of the same ilk must be together and I have traveled from the farthest reaches of Hell to come see you. You may thank me for my effort." This was definitely a mistake was Honoka's first thought. It probably still wasn't too late to run away but the girl's next words kept her feet planted firmly. "You who have the eyes of the gods but have been cast down, won't you join this fallen angel?"

Honoka felt her entire body tense up. She knew. This girl knew about her ability. How? Honoka had never mentioned it to anybody outside of Eli and Nico in years. Not to mention it wasn't exactly obvious that she was using some psychic power when she was using it. So how did this girl find out? All of her bravado, whether brought about by stress or her talks with Eli and Nico, was gone in an instant. She felt tears prickling at her eyes and her heartrate skyrocketing. The urge to run away increased tenfold. Why? Why? Why?

The self-proclaimed Yohane seemed to notice the panic on the ginger's face and her stance faltered. "I-I um… t-there is no need to be worried, little demon. Yohane is merely here t―"

But Honoka wasn't listening anymore. Flight tended to win in a fight or flight situation for Honoka almost every time. And this time was no different. Before the girl could finish, she took off running in a panic, as fast as she could. She could hear the girl yell something after her, but she was way too scared to hear. She sprinted all the way back to her apartment where she crashed through the door and slammed it behind her, probably alerting everybody else in the building that she was there. Dumping her bag on the couch, she ran to her room and hopped in bed, pressing her face against her pillow.

_What? What happened? Why? Why does she know? Does it even matter why? She knows! Somebody else knows! Bad. This is bad. It's over. Even though I tried so hard to keep it a secret, it's all over. This fragment of a normal life I thought I could have. I was so stupid! So careless! I got so carried away because I thought nothing could go wrong if I only talked to Nico and Eli. And now I fucked up. What do I do? Now it's only a matter of time until the rumors start. It's only a matter of time until… until…_

Tears flowed freely from her eyes and she bawled into her pillow, pulling the covers over her, trying to make herself as small as possible, hoping that the world just wouldn't be able to see her. All of the worst scenarios flooded through her mind. Would she have to deal with rumors like that again? Would she have to go through the bullying? Even after completely isolating herself socially? Would she have to transfer universities? The thought of not being near Eli and Nico anymore wrenched her heart but she knew that it was a very real possibility. There was no way she could get through the rest of her university life being treated like a freak by everybody. It just couldn't happen. She was weak. She would break so easily.

Honoka wasn't sure how long she laid there, but it must have been hours. She skipped her afternoon classes, the thought of seeing that girl again instilling a terrible fear in her. The only thing that alerted her to the time was when she heard the front door open. Eli must have seen her bag because she called out, "Honoka? You home?" She didn't have the energy to answer but she wanted to see Eli so badly. Seeing the blonde always made her feel better, no matter what the situation was.

So, she weakly called out, so quietly that she was sure the blonde wouldn't hear her and would just go about making food. "Eli-chan…" Her voice was hoarse from crying, her throat was dry, and it hurt. She blinked and felt no tears coming out. How long had she spent crying?

To her surprise, she heard something hit the floor hard before the padding of footsteps and her door burst open, the blonde there with a worried expression. When Honoka saw her, the tears started again. A feeling of relief, but also the fear of not seeing her again taking grip on her heart. It was too much. Eli rushed over and wrapped her arms around the ginger, whispering assurances to her. It felt nice, the warmth of her best friend around her but it did little to stop the tears.

"E-Eli… chan… I don't want… to leave. I-I… want to… stay with Eli… and Nico… b-but…" She tried to speak between sniffles and her breath hitching, but it was becoming harder and harder. Everything felt like it was falling around her, it felt like a weight was crushing her chest. Hugging Eli both helped and crushed her heart.

"Shh, it's okay. You don't have to go anywhere. And I'm not going anywhere either. It's okay, Honoka. I'm here." She slowly ran her hand through ginger locks. Honoka shook in her arms and it broke Eli's heart to see her like that again so soon. No, she figured this time was worse. Every sob shook Honoka's entire being and Eli was convinced if she let go the girl would collapse and break. She felt so fragile, but the blonde kept her arms tightly around her.

It took a good twenty minutes or so before the sobs began to subside, really only stopping because Honoka was too exhausted to cry anymore. She kept her face buried in Eli's chest for a long time afterwards. When she finally pulled back, Eli's expression turned worse when she saw the state of the ginger. She looked like she had been crying for hours, which she had. She just looked like a complete mess.

"Come on, Honoka. Let's get you in the shower and then you can tell me what happened." Honoka meekly nodded but still had to practically be dragged to the bathroom by her roommate. After an extra-long shower, she did feel a little better, but just a little. At least she managed to drag herself to the living room and plop on the couch, drained of the energy to do anything else. Eli walked up and sat next to her, dropping a cup of tea on the table in front of them before pushing up against her. "Feeling better?"

"… Kind of…" Her voice was quiet still, but it just sounded tired. She reached for the tea and took a long sip. It definitely felt good against her throat that she had cried raw. She let her head fall against Eli's shoulder and closed her eyes. Though she wanted to just go to sleep, she knew she had to explain herself, at least to Eli. "I'm sorry."

"You don't have to apologize, Honoka. You didn't do anything wrong. I'm just worried as your friend. Why don't you tell me what happened?"

"Mm…" Honoka thought back to the girl and flinched. She explained everything that she remembered about the girl and how their encounter went down. Somehow, she managed to not cry during it, but as she finished, she felt tears again. "I… I can't deal with it… not again." Honoka brought her legs up on the couch and buried her face in her knees. "B-But if I leave… I can't… I want to stay… with Eli-chan and Nico-chan…"

Eli had remained silent through the explanation, just nodding slowly. It was strange alright, but she didn't get any bad vibes from the girl from Honoka's story. "You know, I don't think she was trying to threaten you or anything. Maybe she just wanted to be friends." She felt Honoka bristle at that, but the ginger remained silent. "Come on, you never know. I think you should talk to her. Or if you want, I'll talk to her. And if she is trying to threaten you or something, I'll scare her off. I can be pretty intimidating when I need to be, you know."

To emphasize her point, Eli flexed her arms which were well-built, but nothing that would visually intimidate somebody. Honoka couldn't help but giggle at that. She lifted her head and let out a long and slow sigh, her entire body shuddering.

"I… I don't know… what to do…" Honoka shook her head. "Why does this have to happen now…?" All she wanted to focus on was trying to make things better with Maki and now she had to worry about this weird girl spreading her secret around. Could it really get worse?

The silence that followed was thick as Eli considered how to comfort the ginger, but that silence was split down the middle from a knock at the front door. Honoka tensed and Eli held her tighter. "It's just the door, Honoka. It's okay. Just wait right here, I'll go see who it is."

Eli waited for Honoka to nod before getting up and walking over to the door. Who would even be there that late? Nico would have called beforehand, so Eli ruled her out. She looked through the peephole and sucked in her breath. There was no mistaking it. That was the girl Honoka had described without a doubt. There wouldn't be many more people going for the whole 'fallen angel' look that this girl had on point. As Eli stared, the girl's eyes suddenly met hers even though she knew there was no way the girl could see her from that distance.

"Open the door, if you would so please. I merely wish to speak with my little demon." Her arms were crossed, and she was tapping her foot, clearly not happy to be waiting out there. Eli debated telling her to just go away, but she slowly opened the door, but when Yohane started to take a step forward, Eli pushed her back and came outside, closing the door behind her. Now it was her turn to cross her arms.

"What do you want with Honoka?"

"Hmph. I have no reason to tell a mere mortal anything. Move aside and let me speak with her. I am only interested in she who possesses the eyes of the gods." Eli would give her one thing, she seemed pretty stubborn. Eli did her best to look intimidating, but Yohane merely snorted at the end of her words and stared into her eyes, waiting.

Eli clenched her fists at her side. "How did you find out about that?" Though she wasn't sure about the whole 'eyes of the gods' thing, it was obviously referring to Honoka's ability.

Yohane looked her up and down and sighed. "You're annoying, mortal. Has she not told you? She who possesses the eyes of the gods and I are of the same ilk, comrades in arms. We who both share curses from the gods above are doomed to wander with naught but misfortune to both guide and hinder us. Luckily, we who suffer this curse will always be drawn together. It is for that reason that I seek her out. To think we were so near, this is clearly fate at work."

To be honest, Eli had absolutely no idea what this girl was talking about. The way she spoke was strange, her voice was oddly deep, and she had an air about her that made the blonde shift uncomfortably. She wasn't sure about letting this girl near the ginger. But there was one thing that caught her attention in the girl's babbling.

"Wait… 'same ilk'? Are you saying that you also…?"

Yohane snorted again but nodded. "You're so very quick, mortal." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm and it gave Eli half a mind to go inside and leave her out there. "It is through my curse that I have come to find Kousaka Honoka. Now that you know, will you let me in? Or will I have to approach her at a time when foolish mortals cannot interfere?"

"I'll have you know this 'foolish mortal' is her best friend. And if I don't want you near her, then you won't get near her. She's already cried her eyes out because of your tactless approach." Eli started to regret saying that last part, but when she talked about crying, Yohane flinched.

"I-I…" Her voice cracked and when it came out next, it sounded much more like a normal girl, lacking the deepness that she was apparently faking. "I did not mean to bring harm to her. I simply wished to speak with her. As we are of the same ilk, we who have suffered should be together. My inquiries into her are with the purest of intentions."

Eli blinked once, then looked the girl up and down. Yohane was avoiding her gaze, now shifting around herself. Was this girl really just there to talk to Honoka normally? If she had the same ability, was she just trying to talk to someone who had the same experiences? For a brief moment, Eli felt a smile crest her lips and she was about to try to fish for more information when the door creaked open slightly, a ginger head poking out.

"Eli-chan, who…?" Honoka trailed off as her eyes met violet. Her breath hitched and she covered her mouth, suddenly feeling nauseous. As Eli turned to help her, she thought she saw the fallen angel flinch again.

"Honoka, it's okay. She's fine, she won't―"

"Hmph." Yohane drew the attention of both of them as she turned away. "It looks like you are in no state for discussion at this time. Fear not, little demon, your secret is safe with me. I have no reason to spread word of your eyes to mere mortals who would use them as they see fit." There was a pause and Yohane tried to look Honoka in the eyes but quickly turned away when she saw a couple tears flowing from those blue orbs. "I-I… I am sorry for… any trouble I might have caused you. I will…" Yohane shook her head and let out a sigh that seemed to deflate her entire being. "Farewell, Honoka."

Before Eli could say anything, the girl took off running and damn was she fast. She was gone before Eli could even consider going after her. Instead, she took Honoka back into the apartment and sat her down once again. She was thankful that the ginger wasn't shaking. She was rubbing tears away on her sleeve and Eli smiled sympathetically and placed a hand on her friend's shoulder.

"She said she won't tell anybody. I really think she feels bad about making you worry."

Honoka meekly nodded but Eli could tell she barely paying attention. The ginger looked deep in thought, but she couldn't tell how her friend was feeling about the situation. She wasn't crying or shaking, so those were positive signs.

"What do you want to do about her?"

Really all she wanted was to push any issue that wasn't Maki off until she fixed stuff between her and the redhead. She really didn't need all these problems. And if that Yohane girl was going to keep her secret, then she shouldn't have anything to worry about, right? Well, she would like to believe so anyways. After all that crying from before and today, she was tired.

"I… I don't know." She admitted. "I think I want to wait… until after the party to think about this." She took a deep breath and let out the worries about the girl. There was too much going on in her normally uneventful life. Well, as uneventful a life as one with a psychic ability could have.

Eli nodded and gave her a quick hug before standing. "Alright. I'll make us something to eat so why don't you just relax for a bit? I'm sure we have something I can scrape together here."

Honoka sunk back into the couch as Eli left her side. Why was this happening? Why now? What was she supposed to think about this? She shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts away, but the worry and curiosity about that Yohane girl stayed. Honoka groaned, everything was becoming really complicated. She got on her knees and peeked over at the kitchen area.

"Eli-chan?" She called out, her voice at that quiet volume that let the blonde know that she was nervous.

Eli popped up from her position in front of the fridge. "Hm? What's up?"

"Um… If… If you were in my position… what would you do?"

"Hmm…" Eli went back to digging through the fridge for a bit before offering her answer. "I don't want to tell you what to do, Honoka, but… I don't think talking to her would hurt. That being said, if you want to wait until you fix things between you and Maki, I don't think that's a bad idea. Taking things one problem at a time is fine. I know how much the Maki stuff has been bothering you so maybe it isn't the best idea to toss something else on that pile." She turned and smiled. "I just don't want you to completely ignore this Yohane girl. If anything, I think she may just be looking for friends. So, if you at least talk to her, then I think that's fine."

Honoka just nodded before turning back around and slumping down. This was going to be a stressful week. How had her life gone from… well, maybe 'fine' wasn't the way to describe it but… she was satisfied. Being with Eli was enough for her before. And she was grateful to have Nico as such a close friend now. But she just didn't get how her life had turned upside down so quickly.

"I guess… I'll ty talking to her next time…" She mumbled it but she heard an 'Mm' from Eli, and she couldn't help but smile a bit.

Things were about to get… a lot more complicated.

* * *

**I hope you all enjoyed.**

**I'll try to get back into this fic soon, so please bear with me.**

**Till next time. Be seeing you.**


	6. Party

**So, let's get straight to it. Frankly, I'm sure some of you are going to think this chapter feels a little rushed, specifically towards the end. I'll try to explain at the end so as not to spoil anything, so read that I guess.**

**Two months or whatever isn't so bad for a chapter, right? Especially when so many things are happening. And... well, a _lot_ happens in this chapter.**

**Have fun.**

* * *

Honoka peered out the door of the Liberal Arts building, making sure that she saw neither the redhead nor a fallen angel lurking around. Clear. All good. She started to make her way out, looking every which way as if expecting either to jump out from some bush. This was only the first part of her pilgrimage to the math building. Why was she headed to the math building? Nico was apparently hanging out with a friend around it and told Honoka to meet her there so they could get some lunch together. Maki was a medical student so the chances of seeing her there were probably nil. But that Yohane girl? Honoka had no idea what she was in university for so there was always the chance of seeing her. But she had her doubts about seeing her in the math building. If anything, from her performance the other day, Honoka assumed she was probably in theatre like Nico or something. That was actually something she wanted to ask her friend about.

Taking her sweet time, she eventually made it to the math building, but she didn't see Nico outside. A quick check of her texts showed one from Nico telling her that she would be a couple minutes, but she could come to the lounge area inside. Honoka peeked in the doorway and observed a few students meandering about the hall so she quickly shuffled her way through. That was her first time in the math building so she had next to no idea where exactly she was headed to and she sure as hell wasn't about to ask some stranger for help.

As she contemplated just waiting outside while walking up the steps to the second floor, she felt a collision with somebody rushing from around the next set. "Ah!" Honoka instinctively pulled back from the collision but realized that she was the one still on the stairs. But before she could feel herself falling, a hand grabbed her wrist, holding her in place.

"I-I'm so sorry, are you alright!? Eh? You're…"

Honoka heard the voice but it was already starting to sound distant. She felt herself falling away, but not literally. Her power was taking her somewhere far away again. She felt a heavy fear building in her chest and strained to see who was holding her up. Whoever it was, that person was clearly yelling to her but the person's words faded with her mind. She caught a glimpse of glasses, hair pulled into a neat ponytail. And then nothing.

"Wha!?" Honoka's eyes snapped open in a panic before she realized that it was just her power again. "Not again… Where…?"

The room she found herself in looked relatively normal if a little messy. Was she in somebody's house? Clothes littered the floor in more than a few spots but other than that, it was a normal room. Her eyes roamed over it, confirming that she was the only one there. What was that about? If she… her thoughts were cut off when she heard a muffled yelling before the door burst open, a girl walking inside before slamming the door shut behind her. Unfortunately, Honoka recognized her in an instant.

Even without her fallen angel getup on, it was obviously her. Yohane shuffled across the room, tossing a bag aside and jumping on her bed. At first Honoka was confused on exactly what was happening, but she could tell when a girl was crying. Yohane's breathing hitched with every sob and Honoka felt a pain in her chest. She almost reached out, but she knew there was no point. This was the past, or maybe the future. There was nothing she could do besides watch.

Then everything changed again. The world around her spun, threatening to throw her to the floor as she flew to a new period of time. A bathroom this time. Yohane's, she assumed from the fact that the girl was once again in front of her. She was sobbing again, but what instantly stuck out to Honoka this time was the knife in her hands. This time, Honoka did reach out, shouting for her to stop, but her hands just passed through the girl.

But Yohane didn't bring the knife to her wrist or arm at all, but held it up high in the air, pointing it down at her face. "These stupid _hic_… these damn eyes! Bring me back! Don't…" Yohane let the knife fall with a clang, covering her face with her hands. "Don't take everything from me…"

Honoka thought she was prepared for it, but she was so thrown off by what she was seeing that when the information started flooding into her, it hit her like a truck.

_Tsushima Yoshiko. 18. July 13. O._ A host more of information flooded into her mind and Honoka's eyes widened at the revelation. It was like everything suddenly made sense. And just like that, she was dragged back to reality, a reality where Yoshiko held her arm still. Honoka slowly planted her feet and leaned up with Yoshiko's help until she could stand on her own.

It was definitely the fallen angel even if she looked a lot different. Her hair was pulled into a neat ponytail, a pair of round glasses adorned her face, and, most noticeably, instead of the fallen angel getup, she wore a skirt and a sweatshirt that provedmuch too large for her. Honoka observed the girl and almost giggled at how different she seemed, but that intense fear from before settled in her chest.

She knew. She knew everything. Why the girl was chasing after her, what that power of hers was, everything. Honoka swallowed a thick lump in her throat and tried to speak but failed to find her voice. What was she supposed to say? This wasn't like the time with Maki, this was someone she so desperately wanted to avoid before and yet… She ran over the newly acquired information in her mind once again and nodded slowly.

_Come on, Honoka. Just this one time, be a little braver._

She cheered herself on, but it was Yoshiko who spoke first, not even bothering to deepen her voice. "You saw, didn't you?" Honoka's head snapped up to meet eyes with her, panic clear as day on her face. Yoshiko sighed. "Do not worry. I intended to allow you to gather information from me this way in the first place. It's a lot easier than trying to explain everything." Yoshiko paused and looked away, her cheeks flushing just a bit. This time she did lower her voice, but somehow managed to stumble over her words. "S-So, you see that I did not approach you with impure intentions. I would… I would not tell anybody of your plight."

Seeing her like that, Honoka felt that fear slowly fade. Yoshiko was scared. Scared and alone. Just like she had been for so many years. Even if their circumstances were radically different, she felt like she could relate on some level. It gave her an unfamiliar sense of comfort, one she had never felt in the past. Though it was comforting, it was scary. With it came a fear of 'what comes next.' With Nico, it felt a lot simpler to trust her. She was Eli's friend, so it was almost just by association that she felt at least the tiniest bit more comfortable speaking with her at first. That and Nico didn't know about her power from the get-go. But Yoshiko said she wanted Honoka to find about her circumstances and that made the ginger want to speak, but she couldn't bring herself to.

Yoshiko seemed to have noticed something at least because she sighed and grabbed the strap of her bag tightly. "Honoka! There you are!" Nico rounded the stairs from the same direction Yoshiko had come from but paused when she noticed the other girl. She looked between her and Honoka. "Um… a friend?" She asked tentatively.

"Hardly." Yoshiko quickly spoke up, her voice returning to its regular pitch. "Then, if you'll excuse me, Kousaka-san." She gave a small nod of acknowledgement towards Nico and moved around Honoka. As she moved by, Honoka heard a soft voice, just loud enough that only she could hear. "I would like to speak with you again in private some time…" Yoshiko paused on the step behind her. "Before my time is up." With that, she continued on her way.

Honoka turned around, fishing for something in the mess that was her mind, but found nothing, instead just watching as the girl exited the building. She turned back to Nico with a concerned look and Nico nodded as if already understanding. "Come on. We can talk about it over lunch." Honestly, Honoka wasn't sure she wanted to talk about it at all, but after learning what she did, she felt like there was no way she could avoid the topic any longer so she reluctantly nodded and followed Nico.

By the time they were sat in the small café that Nico had brought her to before, Honoka had gone over a hundred times in her head what she could and couldn't tell Nico. There was no way she could tell anybody, even her friend, anything that she had taken against Yoshiko's will. Well… whether Yoshiko had wanted it or not, it wasn't Honoka's place to give out that information.

Nico waited until their food was there before she finally poked at the topic. "So… do you want to talk about it?"

Honoka stared down at her food, still not 100% on what exactly she should say. "It's… not that I don't want to talk about it. I'm just… not sure what I can say."

"Oh." Nico perked up. "You…" She lowered her voice despite the fact that it was only them and the manager there. "You touched her?"

Honoka nodded. The least she could do was tell her about what had transpired before. She had avoided the topic in the hope that it wouldn't come up again until after the party, but here they were. "I just… it, well…" She scratched her head furiously, trying to think of something to say without actually revealing what she had just learned.

Nico flicked the straw in her glass, watching as it circled around. "Well, she said she has something similar to you, right? Is that true?"

That, at least, she could probably say. "Yeah. But… it's not the same. It's… probably a lot worse…" When she thought about exactly what power that girl possessed, it almost, _almost_, made her feel lucky to be stuck with that power. "I think… I'm going to try talking to her."

"Hmm, well that's probably a good idea." Nico's face softened into a smile and she reached across the table, covering Honoka's hand with hers. She noticed the telltale small shake from the ginger. "Nico didn't have a very interesting day, huh?" Honoka groaned and reached for her head, a headache slowly forming. "Sorry. Look, Nico knows everything is pretty hectic for you right now, but… she doesn't think you have to be nervous about this."

"Eh?"

"Well, you should know this more than Nico does since you touched her but… Nico thinks this might be something good for you. At the very least, Nico doesn't think talking things out with this Yohane girl will be any trouble at all. If anything, she thinks it'll help you." Nico nodded to herself.

Honoka sighed but managed a smile. "I guess. After that I… I'm not sure I can leave her alone."

"That serious, huh?" Honoka nodded.

"It… Ahhh! I don't know what I'm supposed to do! There's only two days until the party and I'm already worrying about that but now…" She sighed. "It's kind of… maybe a time sensitive thing…"

"You know, you could have just gone after her instead of eating with Nico. Nico wouldn't have minded."

"Well… I just don't know what to say. After what I saw, I… think I know what she might be hoping for. And it's something I don't know. I think..." Honoka shook her head and shoved a large amount of food in her mouth, purposely taking her time chewing it before speaking again. "I guess I'll have to talk to her soon." Honoka leaned her head on her hand and sighed. "So… Yoshiko's not in theatre with you?"

Nico tilted her head. "Yoshiko?"

"The girl from before."

Nico waved off the previous question. "Nope. Nico definitely would have noticed a girl like that."

A long sigh escaped Honoka and she let her head rest on the table. Too much. Way too much was going on for her mind that wasn't used to this kind of thing. Maki's face came to her mind and she furiously scratched her head again. The Maki situation was important, undoubtedly so. If she could amend that and become closer to the redhead, she would be all the happier for it. But this… This Yoshiko problem was something that would have to be dealt with ASAP. If she chose to help her. Why did she want to help her anyway? Because she found out about it? Because she felt sorry for her? No. It was much simpler. A small smile broke out on her face. Eli had never abandoned her, no matter how much trouble she may have presented. Maybe, just maybe… she thought she could do that for someone here.

_But…_

Honoka leaned back, staring up at the ceiling. If Nico knew nothing about her then… She was hoping her ability had just not picked up on her being in the drama club, but that was out now. There was no way for her to know anything else about or to help her without meeting up with her. If there even was a way she could help her. Honoka still wasn't sure on that end. But for now…

"Well," Nico smiled from across the table. "Just do your best. Eli and Nico will be here for you the whole way."

Honoka giggled and nodded. "Mm." First she would get through the party. It couldn't be that bad, right?

It was, in fact, that bad. She had spent all of Friday stressing about the party the next day and now that it was actually happening, Honoka had wrapped herself in her blanket as soon as the first people started to arrive. She had helped Eli to set everything up, but her anxiety spiked the second there was a knock on the door. And now the party was in full swing. It wasn't like there were _too_ many people, but she could hear more voices than she was comfortable being around. Eli had told her it was perfectly fine to retreat to her room if she needed some time but she hadn't actually gone out to the party at all. If Honoka was being honest, she felt kind of bad. After telling Eli that she would spend some time out there, she ended up cooped up in her room. The voices were one thing but… the thought that Maki might be out there made her freeze up every time she attempted to approach the door.

What was she supposed to say to Maki? There was a lot she felt like she wanted to say but she wasn't sure how much of it she would actually be able to tell her. The most important thing was definitely apologizing for running away before. But after that… the other issue came to mind. Honoka typically avoided people so even if she learned everything about them, she figured she would never speak to them nor see them again most of the time. The exceptions being her family, Eli, and Nico, of course. Well… she could add Yoshiko and Maki to that list now. The issue here lied with Maki, of course. The idea of speaking to her and acting normal when she knew so much just… felt wrong. She would basically have to lie to her constantly, pretending like she knew nothing. But at the same time, the concept of explaining her ability terrified her. Not everybody would be as accepting as Eli and Nico about that. They couldn't be.

A soft knock sounded on her door and Honoka jumped, peeking out from her blanket as if expecting some complete stranger to walk in. But no. It opened just slightly to reveal Eli who slipped in before quickly closing it behind her. She smiled at Honoka and walked over to sit next to her. They sat in silence for a bit before Honoka finally shed the blanket and Eli gave her another smile.

"Maki asked about you."

Honoka's head snapped up but she bit back her initial response. "I… I want to see her. But…"

"You're still worried about that Yoshiko girl?" Eli ran a hand up and down Honoka's back. "Listen, Honoka. Even if you can't tell me what's wrong, it won't do you any good to just sit in here. I know you're worried about her and I know you want to help her with… whatever she needs help with. But for now, why don't you come on out? Maybe talking to Maki will help clear your head."

"Clear my head…" Honoka snorted at the thought. Talking to Maki would likely just cloud up her head with stupid thoughts anyways. And… "I… don't want to lie to Maki, Eli-chan."

"Lie?"

"About anything. I…" Honoka cleared her throat, trying to hold in any tears that wanted to stray from her eyes. "I was only able to be friends with you and Nico-chan because I… I told you. If… If I had lied and lied, neither of you would want to be with me." Eli started to say something but Honoka silenced her with a look that quickly dissolved into a small smile. "I'm not saying that's a bad thing, Eli-chan. I don't think I would want to be friends with a liar either. I'm not saying it has anything to do with… this thing. Even if I was just a normal girl, you wouldn't want to be friends with me if I lied all the time, right? That's why… I'm afraid. If I don't tell Maki, I'll… have to lie a lot. And I don't want that. I don't think we can really talk if I'm lying all the time. But at the same time…" Honoka's body shook and Eli leaned in closer, wrapping an arm around her friend. "I-I… telling her is…" Tears streaked down her face and she closed her eyes, wishing with all her might that her ability would just vanish that night. "I can't… I can't tell her. I don't want her to think I'm a freak."

Eli took a deep breath and let it out slowly, pulling the ginger close against her. "I said it before, and I'll say it again. I won't tell you what to do, Honoka. If you don't want to talk to Maki, I'll tell her that you're not feeling well. But you know as well as I do that nothing will get solved that way. And Eli's always right, isn't she?" Honoka rolled her eyes and Eli laughed. Eli leaned forward and planted a quick kiss on Honoka's forehead before standing. "I have to go back out now. If you really don't want to come out, then text me."

"I'm not a kid, Eli-chan…"

"Ahaha. Well, you know, you just make people want to squeeze you and kiss you." Eli laughed at Honoka rolling her eyes for a second time and walked out the room.

Honoka sighed but she knew Eli was right. Her problems wouldn't go away if she just sat there. Staying cooped up in her room wouldn't solve her Maki issue nor would it help Yoshiko. She finally shed the sheet and stood. One step at a time. Right now, she had to at least… attempt to speak with Maki. If anything, just for Eli's sake. Honoka realized quickly that she didn't have anything particularly suited to parties, so she ended up with a short skirt and a t-shirt with some random English band name on it that Eli had gotten her. Good enough. With that, she snuck out of her room and into the bathroom to wash off her face, making sure that her eyes hadn't gone red from the bit of crying. Nope. All good.

"Alright. Calm down, Honoka. You can do it."

After some convincing of herself, she took a tentative step down the hallway. Part of the living room was visible from her angle and she could hear the music and see several people with cups in hand talking and laughing. Honoka readied herself before finally just moving in, bobbing and weaving around the few people she almost came into contact with before stopping in the kitchen. Eli was picking up two plates with various party treats on them and she smiled at the sight of her roommate.

"She's over there." Eli nodded towards the living room.

Honoka peered over and, sure enough, Maki's red hair stuck out among the other students there. Thank god it was a small enough party for her to maneuver through. Though a fear still gripped at her heart, she felt her feet take a step forward, around a group of three girls talking and move towards the living room. As she neared, Maki came fully into her vision and Honoka sucked in a breath. That fear once again clutched at her heart as her mind raced to think of exactly what she would say to the girl. But, as Honoka's luck would have it, Maki chose that exact moment to look her way. Maki's eyes widened for a second and a small smile settled on her face as she walked over. Honoka swallowed and stiffly walked to meet her halfway so they could at least have the least amount of possible eavesdroppers as possible.

"Honoka. It's been a while."

To be fair to Honoka, she felt ever so slightly less nervous than she expected. That being said, she still felt just short of fainting and her desire to flee back to her room felt very appealing. But she swallowed, tightened her hands into fists at her side and took a deep breath.

"M-Maki-chan." Honoka cursed her stumble but if Maki cared she didn't show it. "Yeah, um… long time no see." She felt even more awkward then their encounter at the café. Words weren't coming to her and she was afraid Maki grow tired of that pretty quickly.

When she didn't continue, Maki giggled. "Still not much of a talker I see. Well, that's not necessarily a bad thing though."

Honoka nodded slowly. Although her lack of words came in good part because of Maki, the people didn't help. Having so many people in her home, the one place she thought of as 'safe,' a place where she never had to feel the stress that came with social situations, threw her off just a bit. But as if reading her mind, Maki gestured toward the door.

"Want to step out for a bit?"

Honoka blinked once before nervously glancing around and then back at her. "Huh? Um… b-but, um, didn't you come… because of the party?"

"I just thought you might need to cool off a bit. I don't mind stepping out. It's easier to talk that way too, right?"

Honoka was wondering what she meant by that when she put a hand to her face. _Ah…_ Likely due to her nerves, she was sweating. Her face flushed red and she wanted nothing more than to run to the shower and spend the rest of the party there, but she steeled herself.

"I, um… Mm…"She meekly nodded, her words failing her.

Maki nodded and reached out but quickly withdrew her hand, a sudden slightly nervous expression on her face. Honoka flinched, knowing she was likely the reason for that. A dark feeling began swirling in the put of her stomach. Even though she hadn't meant to, she had pulled away from Maki the last time they touched. She wanted to say something, but her voice caught in her throat so when Maki's smile returned, albeit a bit off this time, and she started walking towards the door, Honoka followed like a lost dog. The thoughts of the conversation to follow made her heartrate skyrocket. Maki was definitely going to question her about that time. And what exactly was she supposed to say without revealing the truth? These questions swirling around in her head were enough to make Honoka dizzy, but she stayed on path with Maki until the redhead grabbed the door handle.

"Did you hear about Tsushima-san?"

"Who? Oh, is that the weird girl that never talks?"

"Yeah, her. Kitagami said she left her last class the other day after saying something like 'I must face my demons.'" Both girls laughed at that. "And she didn't show up to any classes yesterday."

Maki opened the door but Honoka froze in place.

"Well she is weird. Isn't Akari her roommate? She was always talking about weird stuff Tsushima-san does."

"Akari said she never came home last night. Maybe 'facing her demons' means she decided to drop out."

Something didn't sit well with Honoka about the conversation. It wasn't the most unsual thing for a student to take a day off during college. Maybe she was sick, maybe she simply didn't feel like attending class yesterday. So… why did something feel so wrong?

"She might have just gone home, right?"

"I guess so. I talked to Akari earlier and Tsushima-san wasn't there today either so maybe she just took a day off. Did she have to do it like that though?"

Honoka's blood froze. No. No, she didn't go home. Because… Tsushima Yoshiko doesn't have a home to go to. Honoka felt her breathing pick up. Was she too late? Had it happened already? Even though this was about a girl she hardly knew, one she was terrified of speaking with until just the other day, Honoka felt her chest tighten. If Yoshiko was gone and she could have possibly prevented it…

"Honoka?" Maki asked with more than a bit of concern lacing her sweet voice.

But Honoka wasn't listening. The fear of whatever happened to Yoshiko trampled over her anthropophobia and she quickly stepped towards the two girls who both jumped at her sudden appearance. "W-Where…!? Um… Y-Yoshiko, I-I mean… W-What apartment… does Tsushima-san live in?" Her voice shook with every word and she was sure she looked on the verge of panic, and that's because she was.

The girls looked between each other. "Um… do you know her?"

"I…!" Honoka tried to speak but words failed her. The temporary bravado from her worry was already beginning to wear off but she needed to know. Even if their situations were drastically different, Yoshiko still felt in a similar position. Honoka closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Eli hadn't left her behind. No matter what happened, she was there for her. So… If she could save Yoshiko by just being there… Honoka reached out and grabbed the girl's hand.

But this time, she forced herself to hold on. With all her willpower, she held on, praying just this one time. She wouldn't let her consciousness fade. Even without that experience though, information hit her like a brick. So many memories, so many things about this girl, flooded her mind but she forced her way through it. There was only one thing she was after, everything else was useless. A headache set it much quicker than usual, she had never experienced one when her power was still active.

Something felt fundamentally wrong about what she was doing, as if her ability was screaming at her for daring to assert her will over it. An unnatural cold seeped into her body, into her head, into her mind. A freezing cold that almost made her release the girl, but she held on tight. It had to be there, it had to be! The pain and cold only grew until she was unsure how she even stood. But right when she felt her consciousness slipping, the battle lost, she grabbed it. A single memory of a visit to one Akizawa Akari's apartment.

With the memory in hand, Honoka released the girl, falling back, both hands immediately going to her head which felt ready to split open. She groaned in pain and suddenly everybody's eyes rested on her. Tears fell from her eyes, but not from some tragic memory, but from the sheer pain. At least that unnatural cold had faded with her grip.

"Honoka!" Maki ran up to her and grabbed her arm, helping her to stand. Maki's hand touched hers several times and she was never more grateful for her ability not activating. "What happened? Why…?"

Honoka wanted to talk but her time was quite possibly extremely limited. She gently pulled away from Maki, looking at her with tears flowing down her cheeks. She heard Eli say something and felt her next to her, but she never broke eye contact with the redhead. "I… I'm sorry…" She wanted to say more, to say so much more, but she broke away from both Maki and her best friend, running for the door, almost tripping and falling on the way from the pain but she grabbed the doorknob and yanked it open. She turned back one last time to see everybody staring at her but the pain was too great to let her fear take over in that moment. Her eyes once again locked onto Maki and she struggled to find something to say, and her mind ended up blurting the first thing she could think of in a 'girl has to run after somebody to save them' scenario. "W-Wait for me."

Before she could see or hear any response, she ran off into the night.

* * *

**I wonder what happened to Yoshiko. Well, next time all will be revealed!**

**Also, as to why I said it might feel rushed, you can probably see now. The thing is, I wanted to focus almost entirely on Honoka. And due to Honoka's lack of social awareness and the like, there isn't much filler to actually put. She isn't exactly one for small talk in this AU, as I'm sure you're aware of by now. Anyways, sorry for any typos but, as always, I don't spell check or the like.**

**Hope you enjoyed.**

**Till next time. Be seeing you.**


	7. Eyes of the Gods

**Well, I don't think this one took particularly long to get out at least.**

* * *

If the location of Yoshiko's apartment wasn't so firmly implanted in her head from her ability, Honoka was sure she wouldn't be able to make it. Every few steps, she stumbled. With every throb of pain in her head, her vision blurred. She wouldn't say she regretted stealing that information, but damn was she paying the price for it now. At this point, she wouldn't be surprised if she collapsed long before she reached that apartment. But it was close. So close. She staggered through the night, past several people who surely believed she was some drunken idiot. But she didn't care. She had one goal, one place in mind.

Luckily, all of the apartment buildings were located fairly close but of course Yoshiko's happened to be as far away as possible. Honoka wasn't sure how long she stumbled through the night but she knew when she finally stood in front of it. Honoka attempted a victorious smile, but she just couldn't do it. Instead, she slammed her fist on the door several times, probably waking up everybody in the building. The door opened slowly, a girl with short brown hair curiously peeking out.

"Um… may I help you?"

Honoka clutched her head, trying to fight through the pain to speak. "Y-Yoshiko…" She managed, earning a confused look from the girl.

"Oh. You mean Tsushima-san? She's not here right now. I think she might have gone home for the weekend. She left behind some weird note, but I can barely understand it."

A note? Honoka struggled to stay standing straight. "T-That note… Can I…?" She had no desire to force another use of her ability then but luckily Akari nodded and disappeared into the apartment for a bit, returning with a paper that looked hastily torn from a notebook, offering it to the ginger. "T-Thank… you." Honoka grabbed it and gave it a quick read over, pausing a few times to wipe the blurriness from her eyes. Most of it was indecipherable nonsense, just as Akari had said, but what she could make out were the lines across the bottom.

_**That thou shall drink from your well of knowledge, the forbidden fruit, to seek out that which thou hast lost. My wings hath been clipped, the angel has fallen, to drown slowly in the fountain of mortals. To you, the chosen, who have forsaken those that bestowed such a curse, seek high, for even a fallen angel may be drawn to Heaven.**_

Honoka stared at the paper, her mind in no shape to decipher the girl's words. But she knew one thing for sure: this note, or at least this part, was for her. Her curse, her ability. Drink from it… Yoshiko couldn't mean… Without saying anything more to Akari, she turned and sprinted away, not wanting to be anywhere near the girl if she was going to do it. She swallowed hard and prayed to whatever gods might be out there that this wouldn't kill her.

"Just one more time… please…" She gripped the paper tightly, forcing her mind to work. She felt the telltale activation, but she wasn't drawn away. Brief visions passed through her mind, of Yoshiko writing the note, of her pink eyes staring right into her own, a small smile on Yoshiko's face and she pointed. Then it was gone just like that. No location, no flood of information, but a direction. Honoka quickly turned, squinting to see through the darkness. The math building? Well, it is the tallest building on campus so that probably makes sense.

She started off in that direction but paused when she felt something warm trickling down over her lips. She reached up and pressed a finger below her nose. Blood, a small stream of it. Honoka furiously wiped it away but soon felt it again. Had another forced use of her power done that? She took a tentative step forward and felt her entire body explode in pain, like her muscles were tearing themselves apart. "Kuh!" She stumbled forward but somehow managed to keep herself standing, but when she opened her mouth, she felt something coming and tried to cough it away but ended up puking instead. To her relief, the contents of her puke did not consist solely of blood though there was a noticeable amount of red mixed in.

Looking around, she was grateful that nobody was there and that she had chosen to not stick around Akari. She felt bad for whoever had to find that, but she had to go. Time was running out. Honoka forced her body forward. Feeling at least a little better after puking, her body decided to listen to her and she stumbled her way across campus. Thankfully, since it was night there were few people roaming around so the chance of somebody spotting her and forcing her into an ambulance or something was low.

The journey to that building felt like an eternity, Honoka aware of every second that ticked by, another second where she might be too late. By the time she reached it, fog filled her head and she could barely stand straight much less walk tow or three steps without almost collapsing. "Please… just a little longer…" The tears from the pain had long since subsided and, thankfully, so had the bleeding. Honoka stumbled her way into the building and began to long and painful climb up the stairs. But she found out pretty quickly that it was going to be impossible. She couldn't even make it up the first set of stairs, much less get to the top floor or roof.

"Come on… Not now…!" She forced another step out before she fell, just barely grabbing the stair to ensure she didn't tumble down. "Why? Why!? I… I don't have time for this… Please! Please… Dammit…!" Honoka grabbed the next step up, trying to drag herself up but it was no use. There was no strength left in her body. Collapsing had been a cruel reminder of that. She tightly shut her eyes, feeling the prickle of tears. Images from Yoshiko's past flashed past her mind and she felt herself biting her lip, trying desperately to stop the tears.

_**Don't… Don't take everything from me…**_

"Kuh…!" Honoka slammed her fist onto the stair. "Please…"

"Amateur mistake, Honoka. When you're in trouble, you should always call upon the great Nico-ni." A small hand wrapped around her wrist, gently tugging on it. Honoka's eyes widened and she turned around to see Nico's signature bright smile. "Nico is here to help."

"Eh? Nico-chan? H-How…?"

Nico shook her head and helped pull Honoka to her feet. "Eli called Nico right after you left the party. Nico was lucky enough to spot you running over here. You looked so beat up that she just couldn't help but rush over!" She waved out her arm in a dramatic fashion but relaxed quickly, a slight look of concern on her face. "You really want to get there, huh?"

Honoka cringed in pain and nodded. "So, well… I'm sorry, Nico-chan. I know this is selfish, but… will you help me?"

Nico snorted. "That's what Nico was waiting to hear!" She slung Honoka's arm over her shoulder. "We'll take it slow, alright?"

"No. Even if it hurts me, Nico-chan, please… I'm running out of time… I think."

"You think?"

"Even if I'm not sure, I… I have to get up there... I can't crawl."

Nico sighed but nodded. "Fine. Don't go blaming Nico for the soreness later though!" With that, Nico began practically dragging Honoka up the stairs. The ginger was surprised that the smaller girl had so much strength, she dragged her like it was nothing.

One flight of stairs, two. Honoka lost count when the pain became too much for her to focus on everything else. Even if she had told Nico that, it didn't mean that she wasn't going to possible pass out from said pain. But she didn't. She held on, just barely, clinging to Nico's voice to stay conscious. It felt like an eternity later that they finally stood in front of the final door. As if to confirm Honoka's thoughts, the door was left slightly ajar.

Honoka took a deep breath and separated herself from Nico. She wasn't totally steady on her legs but it would have to do. "Thank you, Nico. But I…"

"Something you need to do alone, right? Nico knows, she's not that dense. Just promise Nico that you'll call her if you need help getting back."

"Mm. I will." Honoka reached out, wrapping an arm around the shorter girl. "Thank you… for everything."

Nico snorted and gently shoved her friend off. "Don't talk like you're gonna disappear or something. Now go on. You don't have much time, right?"

"Yeah…" Honoka took a deep breath and looked at the door. She pushed it open, staggering outside, hardly the cool appearance that she would have liked but it was the time to think about that. Her eyes immediately locked onto the sole figure on the roof, a girl sitting on the slightly raised edge, looking out over the night. "Yoshiko…"

The girl's head rose slowly, and she turned to gaze at the ginger. Honoka sucked in a breath. Her pink eyes glowed softly in the darkness, a small smile spreading on her lips. "Honoka. Wasn't much of a riddle, huh? I never was good at those things."

Honoka took a few more steps toward her but hesitated. "Yoshiko, are you…?"

"Yes. My time is up. Well, I was only staying here on borrowed time anyways. Or perhaps gifted time? A curse or a gift… Isn't that what we're left to wonder about our eyes?" She stood and sighed, fully turning to face the ginger. "Did you see it? How I knew about you?" Honoka shook her head. "I see. You know, the Honoka of my time was a lot different. Ah, I guess I shouldn't say my time. I never met you in my original time, only in a… very distant one. Things were a lot different. You were in high school, friends with everybody you could see. Ah, um. I'm sorry." Yoshiko diverted her gaze. "I don't mean to belittle the you of this time."

"I…" Honoka shook her head. "Even if there is another time where things turned out differently… I'm still me. That won't change."

Yoshiko let out something between a laugh and a cough. "That's right. This is your time, the place where you belong. Regardless of any struggles, tragedies… this is where you'll stay." She let out a shaky breath. "But that's not true for me, Honoka. There… There is a Tsushima Yoshiko that already exists in this time, living happily with her family somewhere. I'm just a stranger, someone who wandered into the wrong time, the wrong world. And soon… I'll just be a stranger again, far off in another time."

She pointed at her eyes. "Eyes of the Gods, huh…? Maybe somebody might think highly of them, of such an ability. But to me… These are the eyes that took everything from me. My family, friends, my… my time." Yoshiko bit her lip, sucking in a deep breath. "You saw it, didn't you? I won't pretend like I don't know. So many times, and yet I still cry, begging with these cursed eyes, pleading to let me stay. But no matter where I go… My time is always limited."

"Y-Yoshiko… I… But you thought I could help…"

"Mm. I thought, just maybe that the power in those eyes of yours was something else. Not the power to gather information, no. But the power to grasp both the past, present, and future. It was my mistake though. I clung to that possibility, to you, because you were the only other one with such cursed eyes that I found. So, well…" Yoshiko turned back to the edge. "To be honest, I didn't really want you to come. I hoped that maybe you would just go on about your life, never questioning the disappearance of Tsushima Yoshiko."

"W-Wha…? You can't be satisfied with that! With just disappearing again!" Honoka found her voice much louder than she thought she could ever make it, but those strange feelings poured out of her. "If there's even a possibility, shouldn't you grab it!?"

"Heh. That's what I thought. But… you've already touched me. And yet I'm still being dragged away. I thought if you grasped my present that it would burn me into this time, that it would make place for another Tsushima Yoshiko in this world. But I was wrong. I was desperate but I realized something when my eyes began acting up again. Maybe, anchoring myself is wrong. This Tsushima Yoshiko will never find her original time again. She'll forever be forced to wander endless possibilities that don't belong to her."

"You can't know that! How can you give up so easily!?"

Yoshiko snorted. She looked out over the edge, shaking her head. "Easily? Maybe I overestimated." Yoshiko turned to face her, a few tears pricking at the corners of her eyes. "245,693."

"Eh?"

"That's the amount of different times I've traveled through, Honoka. For lifespans greater than any human can experience, I've been shoved and thrown about, cast into times that are both familiar and unfamiliar. When I saw you once before, saw that power, it… gave me hope. A hope that kept me going, kept Tsushima Yoshiko from questioning her sanity, from vanishing forever. But now…!" Yoshiko slammed her fist against the stone. "I'm tried… I can't. I can't, Honoka. I can't leap again, I can't start over again, I can't…! I can't lose my time again!"

Honoka hesitantly took a step forward, but her leg shook, in pain and… "Yoshiko, I… I'm sorry."

Yoshiko furiously rubbed at her eyes. "It's not your fault. It never was. I pinned a hopeless situation on you, demanding an answer. In the end, I'm at fault. I appreciate you coming here Honoka, but… just… leave. This is your time, the place and the 'when' you belong in. But I…"

"Yoshiko!" Yoshiko hopped onto the raised edge, staring down at the pathway below her.

"What are you yelling about? If you so desperately want to meet Tsushima Yoshiko, then, by all means, meet the one of this time. I…" Her voice cracked and she struggled to avoid looking back. "Everything has its purpose. Perhaps I just never found mine. To wander endlessly in a sea of time, losing whatever relationships I build up, losing everything… Was there truly a purpose to Tsushima Yoshiko's life? I don't know. But… Going through another hundred thousand times can't… I won't let it happen. That's why, please… I don't wish to bring more tragedy to you. I'm deeply sorry for the trouble that I've caused you. But now, it's better to forget… forget the name Tsushima Yoshiko."

"No! I won't forget! You can't just charge in here and then tell me to forget you!" Honoka took another shaky step forward. "I… I'm sure there's a way to save you, Yoshiko! I'm sure of it! So…!"

"A way… maybe. But…" Yoshiko finally looked back, her eyes glowing much brighter than before. "I am out of time to find that way. For caring about a shadow such as myself… thank you. I would have loved to speak with you more, but… this is the end for this me. I only pray to whatever god cursed me as such that these eyes do not find their way to another. Farewell, Honoka."

Time slowed for Honoka in the next moments. She saw Yoshiko falling but felt herself moving at the same time. Her body surged forward, a strange fear prickling at her chest. Honoka threw herself over the edge with no hesitation, diving down towards the falling girl.

Fear flashed in Yoshiko's eyes as she met Honoka's. "W-What are you doing!?"

"I told you! I won't leave you alone! You left that message for me! Don't you want to be saved!?" Honoka reached her hand out, just barely out of reach of Yoshiko's.

"I…"

"Please! Just give me a chance, Yoshiko! Tell me how you really feel!"

Tears swept over Honoka's cheek, but they came from the girl falling below her. "I… I don't want to be alone anymore! I don't want to leave again!"

"Then, let me help!" Honoka stretched further and this time Yoshiko reached out until the ginger could fully grasp her hand. "Yoshiko-chan!"

If… If there was the smallest hope that maybe, just maybe, Yoshiko was right, that her power was something more…

Yoshiko gripped that hand desperately, tightly. She turned to see the ground fast approaching. "Listen up, God, Buddha, whoever the hell's out there… You can toy with my life all you want, but…" Her eyes glowed so brightly Honoka could see the light even when she was facing away. "Please, don't let hers end like this!"

Honoka felt a smile breaking out but it fell away quickly, a strange feeling filling her chest. An unnatural lightness, spreading through her. It took her a moment to realize they were no longer falling but just… suspended there. "Eh…?" She looked around but nothing moved. There was no wind, no noise. Even the water in fountain in front of them had just… stopped. "Yoshiko-chan… what…?"

"I won't…" Yoshiko spoke through gritted teeth, the pain clear in her voice. "I won't let… you die, Honoka!"

Honoka opened her mouth to question it before they shot back up, as if they were falling but in the wrong direction. Honoka screamed as they rose higher and higher into the air before she felt herself being tossed back over the roof, her body out of her own control. She felt herself being tugged back towards the door and right as she reached it, everything started again. She suddenly had control of her body once again.

Honoka could only blink and look around her. What just…? "Yoshiko-chan, did you just…?" She looked forward just in time to Yoshiko collapse from her sitting position, luckily falling forward onto the roof. "Yoshiko!"

She ran over and knelt next to her, cradling Yoshiko's head in her arms. "Ha… I… Ho… no…" Yoshiko's eyes flickered between glowing and normal until they closed, her head lulling to the side.

* * *

"Hng…" Yoshiko opened her eyes only to shut them immediately as sunlight assaulted them. Who had pulled the curtains back in her room? She turned over so she could actually open her eyes and peered around. An unfamiliar room welcomed her tired eyes. "Eh? Where…?" She tried to sit up but a pain in her head had her back on the bed before she could make any progress. "Ugh…"

"Finally awake?"

She turned her head again, towards the door to see Eli walking in, a glass of water and pills in hand. "You're…"

"Ayase. Ayase Eli. Here, try to take one of these if you can." Eli tried to help her sit up but when that failed once again, she settled for tilting her head up just enough so she could swallow the pill and some water.

"Ugh. I feel like I got hit by a truck…"

Eli sat on the edge of the bed and ran a hand over Yoshiko's forehead. "Hm. At the least, you don't have a fever. Honoka said something strange happened with your eyes and then you passed out."

Yoshiko shot up at the mention of the girl's name but quickly settled back down when the pain almost knocked her out again. "Where… Where's Honoka?"

"She's here. Just asleep. She insisted on staying with you until you woke up, but well…"

"But…?"

"After twenty-four hours, I decided it was finally enough."

"Twenty-four hours!?"

"Well, you've been asleep for closer to forty now. But I told her if she didn't at least take naps, she couldn't come in."

"Then, this is…" Yoshiko started, looking around.

Eli nodded. "Our apartment. Honoka's room, specifically. We carried you in here but when it became obvious you weren't going to wake up anytime soon, I had her sleep in my room."

Yoshiko breathed a sigh of relief and let an arm rest over her eyes. A short silence fell over them before Yoshiko peeked out. "Well?"

"Well?"

"You seemed to have plenty of questions before but now that I can't escape, you're suddenly scared of me or something?"

"Pfft. Please. I just thought it might not be polite to question an ailing girl." The blankets ruffled as Yoshiko made some failed attempt to lightly kick Eli. "Fine, fine. Well, you should know the first one. Do you really have eyes like Honoka's?"

The blanket shifted again as Yoshiko managed to turn on her side to face Eli. "That's right. Though what the gods… though my power differs greatly. Honoka can pry any piece of information she desires assuming she can touch it. Am I correct?"

"… As far as we know, yeah."

"Mm. My eyes… have detached me from time."

"Detached?"

"Truthfully, perhaps I am not even fully informed but what I do know is that they tore me from my time. I am the second Tsushima Yoshiko to inhabit this time of yours. The difference is that I came from another timeline, one not so different from this but different enough."

Eli pondered that revelation for a second. "So… involuntary time travel?"

"I suppose you could call it that. However, every time I travel to is different. It's not like I just go back in time five years or something. I come to a completely different time. It just so happened that I ended up in this one."

"I see. Sounds… tough?"

Yoshiko shrugged but gave no answer. She had already given Honoka her spew, she didn't feel up to it again. "Also…" Images of her last conscious moments drifted back up. "Perhaps it is more than that…"

Before Eli could respond, likely with another question, the door opened, and both turned their heads to see Honoka walking in. "Honoka."

Honoka turned to greet Eli but her eyes widened when she saw Yoshiko awake. Before Eli could stop her, she bolted over, wrapping her arms around Yoshiko and burying her face in the covers. She tried to say something, but it was so muffled neither of the girls could make it out.

"H-Honoka!" Yoshiko managed, her face flushing as she struggled to move the girl without sitting up. But her struggles subsided when she saw Honoka shaking.

"T-Thank god… I was… s-so worried… you wouldn't wake up… I'm so glad…"

Yoshiko couldn't help but smile and brought a hand up to stroke Honoka's hair.

"Don't worry. I'm not going anywhere, Honoka."

* * *

**I hope you all enjoyed learning just a bit more about Yoshiko!**

**Till next time. Be seeing you.**


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